Fertilizer Prices Forecast to Rise in Vietnam

Fertilizer Prices Forecast to Rise in Vietnam

Domestic fertilizer prices will continue to increase slightly in April this year due to increased imports caused by higher demands and increasing gas prices in Vietnam, according to the Ministry of Trade on March 29.

The prices of urea in the world market, which Vietnam largely imports, began to rise to around USUS$238-240 a ton FOB basis, USUS$225-227 a ton in the Middle East and increased USUS$15-17 a ton in Ucraikne. Chinese urea also increased USUS$30-32 to USUS$255-257 a ton in recent days.

The higher imported fertilizer prices were attributed to the increasing demands from Latin American and East Asia, the ministry said.

Meanwhile, the price of a liter of gasoline grades A92 and A90 on March 29 raised to VND8,000/liter and VND7,800 from VND7,500 and VND7,300 respectively. Diesel oil, kerosene and fuel oil also increased from VND5,500, VND4,900 and VND4,000 to VND4,850, VND4,800 and VND3,570, respectively.

Domestic wholesale prices of urea were also up by VND50-100 a kilo to around VND4,200 a  kilo in Ho Chi Minh City, VND4,100 in Dong Thap, VND4,500 a kilo in Can Tho while other provinces were around VND4,200-4,500 a kilo. (USUS$1=VND15,786).

In related news, the Ministry of Finance recently rejected a bid to lower fertilizer import tax from 5 per cent to 0 per cent, saying that although prices of imported fertilizer to Vietnam remain high domestic paddy indexes are also high.

Vietnam imported around 468,000 tons of fertilizer worth USUS$92 million in the first three months of this year, of which, around 145,000 tons of urea constituted the largest amount, valued at USUS$35 million.

• VnEonomy