With global fertiliser prices surging and supply plunging in Vietnam, prices have risen sharply in the last fortnight.
Several kinds of fertilisers have seen prices increase by 50 per cent and even 100 per cent, Tuoi tre (the youth) newspaper reported.
At the same time, rice prices are falling, in what could turn out to be a double whammy for farmers.
Duong Van Thanh, a farmer in Tra Vinh Province's Chau Thanh District, said in April urea had cost VND420,000 for 50kg bag.
Several fertiliser agents in the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta have now hiked prices to VND620,000.
Fertiliser traders said the wholesale price of imported urea was VND11,400 per kilogramme [or VND570,000 a bag], a rise of 10 per cent in just the last fortnight and 84 per cent year-on-year.
Thanh said in April DAP fertiliser had cost VND640,000, and Kali fertiliser ,VND540,000, but their prices had risen to VND940,000 and VND615,000.
"The price of the summer-autumn rice has fallen by VND1,000 per kilogramme since July," he added.
The Fertiliser Association of Vietnam (FAV) blamed the sharp rise in global prices for the jump in domestic prices.
Import prices have topped US$500 (VND10.3 million) per tonne, a rise of VND1 million within a month.
On the other hand, many fertiliser traders blamed a supply shortfall for the higher price though both imports and domestic production are up sharply this year.
Customs figures show that imports rose by 550,000 tonnes year-on-year by mid-August to 2.3 million tonnes. Local production in the first eight months was up 146 per cent, according to the General Statistics Office.
A fertiliser dealer in Long An Province's Thu Thua District said supply from both local producers and China in the last month had been inadequate to meet demand.
Vu Duy Hai, chairman and general director of HCM City-based Vinacam Joint Stock Company, said fertiliser demand had increased since early August.
Imports might have been higher than last year but lower than in the past, he said.
Besides, there had been a huge quantity of exports, he said.
"At this time in previous years, large quantities of fertiliser were stockpiled.
"[But now] shops in HCM City and other places are almost empty."
The director of a fertiliser trading company in HCM City said companies exported because there were times when domestic prices were much lower than import prices.
The high bank interest rates dissuaded import companies from keeping fertilisers in stock for long, he pointed out.
PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation hiked the wholesale price of its Dam Phu My urea fertiliser by VND700 per kilogramme to VND11,000 on September 1.
It costs just VND8,200 in February.
VNS
Vietnamese
