The Ministry of Industry and Trade says it is forecasted that fertilizer demand will be stable both from now until the end of the year and for the Winter-Spring crop of 2012-2013. The domestic sources of urea are under control, some businesses are exporting urea at a reasonable level.
Stabilization of fertilizer sources:
According to the Ministry of Industry and Trade, fertilizer plants currently still are under stable operations. Along with that, a large volume of market inventory and imports will make the total supply reach 850 thousand tons. Thus, fertilizer demand for the Winter-Spring crop will be ensured.
The current fertilizer price tends to decrease slightly. Specifically, fertilizers are available at the common prices: urea 9.700 – 10.000 VND/kg (decreasing 300 – 500 VND/kg); potassium 11.400 – 12.000 VND/kg (decreasing 200 VND/kg); exclusively DAP 14.000 – 14.300 VND/kg and NPK 11.200 – 11.500 VND/kg (stable compared to September 2012).
According to the forecast, demand for agricultural production in 2013 is about 10.3 million tons of fertilizers, in which 2.2 million tons of urea, 850 thousand tons of SA, 950 thousand tons of potassium, 900 thousand tons of DAP, 3.8 million tons of NPK and 1.8 million tons of phosphate fertilizer. Local production of some fertilizers such as urea, NPK, phosphate, etc., from 2013 onwards will meet demands. Exclusively about 950 thousand tons of potassium in 2013 is needed for agricultural production and a large volume of it will have to be imported.
Reasonable regulation of urea exports:
The Vietnam Fertilizer Association said that fertilizer exports from now until the end of the year would decrease compared to the previous months as the high production season has ended.
According to the General Department of Customs, exports of fertilizers in October reached 79,681 tons worth US$35.9 million, increasing US$2.4 million compared to September. By the end of October, Vietnam has exported 1.097 million tons of fertilizers worth US$467.77 million.
Mr. Nguyen Tri Ngoc – Vice Chairman of the Vietnam Fertilizer Association forecasted that fertilizer exports in the coming months would decline as peak period has ended, primarily focus on markets in the region such as the Philippines, Malaysia, etc. while NPK and superphosphate fertilizers would be exported to Japan.
Mr. Nguyen Duy Khuyen – General Director of Lam Thao fertilizers and chemicals joint-stock company said that the company was exporting superphosphate fertilizer to Japan. Besides, the company was also promoting to keep exporting NPK fertilizer to Japan as this product was rated fully meet fertilizer standards of this country.
As for urea, according to the Vietnam Fertilizer Association’s statistics, starting from 2012, domestic urea production has exceeded 2 million tons/year in which, Phu My Fertilizer Plant reached a capacity of 800 thousand tons/ year, Ca Mau Fertilizer Plant 800 thousand tons/year, Ninh Binh Plant 560 thousand tons/year and Ha Bac Plant 200 thousand tons/year (currently raising capacity to 500 thousand tons/year). Thus, although Ha Bac Fertilizer Plant hasn’t yet completed the second phase, the national urea production reached 2.36 million tons/year.
According to Dr. Phung Ha – Director of Department of Chemicals (Ministry of Industry and Trade), the majority of more than one million tons of fertilizer exported by Vietnam in the past time was NPK fertilizer and about tens of thousands of tons of phosphate fertilizer.
Phu My and Ca Mau Fertilizer Plants are requesting the Ministry of Industry and Trade to allow exporting 60 to 80 thousand tons of urea in 2013 (currently 50 thousand tons of exports allowed). Dr. Phung Ha advocates this policy and assumes that it’s a reasonable direction for businesses to early access the market, prepare for the coming years, when domestic urea production supply will have exceeded demand and plants are under stable operation.
According to the General Department of Customs, exports of fertilizers in October reached 79,681 tons worth US$35.9 million. By the end of October, Vietnam has exported 1.097 million tons of fertilizers worth US$467.77 million.
