The Vietnamese Government will bring soaring fertilizer price and quality under control with a view to assist local farmers, the Ministry of Finance Price Management Unit head Nguyen Tien Thoa.
According to the Vietnam Fertilizer Association (VFA), local fertilizer prices have doubled and even tripled over the past year, reflecting higher global prices and increased demand from local farmers trying to boost harvests to increase exports.
Super phosphate prices has more than doubled from VND1,428 (8.6 US cents) per kg in Jan 2007 to VND3,100 (18.78 cents) in Jan 2008.
Thoa said at the national conference on fertilizer in HCM City Sept 10 that unpredictable fertilizer prices were threatening to harm Vietnam’s agriculture-based economy, noting that the government should include fertilizer on their special price management lists.
At the conference, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Market Monitoring Management Unit, Pham Quang Vien, said the government should also take tighter control of fertilizer quality because local fertilizer market is now being swamped by counterfeit and low quality products.
Vien said that in 2007 his unit discovered around 60,000 quality and intellectual property violations, with between 25 per cent and 30 per cent of them being involved in fertilizer.
As of late August 2008, 61 fertilizer plants nationwide were found selling low quality products, Vien added.
In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam spent around US$1.188 billion on importing 2.5 million tons of fertilizers, representing sharp on year rises of 118.1 per cent in value and 45.8 per cent in volume.
According to the VFA, Vietnam needs 8.3 million tons of fertilizers this year. Domestic producers can supply around 5.4 million tons and the remaining will come from imports.
Last year, Vietnam consumed 7.7 million tons of fertilizer. The country is now home to around 200 fertilizer producing plants. (Vietnam Economic Times, Young People)
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