Vietnam Imports 883,000 Tons of Urea Fertilizer This Year

Vietnam has spent US$221 million importing 883,000 tons of urea fertilizer since the beginning of this year, down 40.1 per cent in value and 48.3 per cent in volume against last year, according to the Government Statistics Office.

 

The import reduction was mostly attributed to the high prices of urea fertilizer in the world market while the domestic demand was dropping during the time.

 

The country will have to import around 1.1-1.19 million tons of urea fertilizer next year in a bid to ease the unexpectedly serious shortage of fertilizer for agriculture production, said officials from the Planning Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.

 

Demand for urea fertilizer is estimated to reach two million tons for the next crop, including 580,000 tons for the northern region, 310,000 tons for the central, and nearly 1.1 million tons for the south. Meanwhile, the country plans to produce just around 810,000-900,000 tons during next year, satisfying more than half of the local demand.

 

Thanks to the falling prices of urea fertilizer in the world market, local fertilizer traders have lowered retail prices of the products to around VND4,200-4,300 (26.6-27.2 US cents) per kilo against the record high level in May at the domestic markets.
Vietnam Economic Times