Vietnam Fertilizer Demand Forecast to Drop 7 per cent This Year

Localities in Vietnam will need a total of 7.8 million tons of fertilizers in 2009, down by 7 per cent against in 2008, the Ministry of Industry and Trade forecasted.

 

The total will include 1.7 million tons of urea, 1.85 tons of NPK, 700,000 tons of DAP, and 1.6 million tons of phosphorus.

 

The ministry said the country will have to import only 750,000 tons of urea fertilizer, some 27,000 tons higher than the figure in 2008.

 

The country will also import 450,000-500,000 tons of DAP fertilizer, while other kinds of fertilizers will be supplied locally.

 

To balance supply and demand, the chemicals and oil and gas sector has been asked to fully exploit the production capacity of the existing fertilizer plants to guarantee a minimum of 950,000 tons of urea, alongside speeding up construction of Ninh Binh, Bac Giang and Ca Mau fertilizer plants.

 

Vietnam was estimated to use 8.3 million tons of fertilizers in 2008. The country had to spend US$1.47 billion on importing more than 2.9 million tons in the year, up 47 per cent in value despite a fall of 22 per cent in volume. (Vietnam Economic Times, GSO December Edition)