April 11, 2012
Vietnam to lessen fertiliser imports
Right after local fertiliser plants increase their production capacity, Vietnam will reduce imports of fertilisers, said the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The ministry estimated that the local demand should exceed 9.8 million tonnes while combined domestic production output would reach 7.25 million tonnes, meaning the country will import 2.5 million tonnes of fertilisers this year, decreasing 40% from last year.
The amount of fertiliser imports fell significantly in the first quarter to 678,000 tonnes worth US$238 million, down by 20.3% in quantity and 7.8% in value, the ministry said.
A number of new fertiliser plants is scheduled to be put into operation this year, including two urea fertiliser plants, said the Fertiliser Association of Vietnam. This would raise the country''s urea fertiliser production output to twice that of last year''s figure of 2.36 million tonnes.
The plants include the 800,000-tonne Ca Mau Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant under the Vietnam Oil and Gas Group (PetroVietnam), and the 560,000-tonne Ninh Binh Fertiliser Plant under the Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem).
With additional urea production capacity, Vietnam will have redundancy of 500,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser, the association said, adding this volume can be exported. Because Vietnam has no plants that can produce ammonium sulphate (SA) and potassium fertilisers, it must import these products. However, the association said the country has the capability to produce ammonia liquor for SA fertiliser in the future.
Vietnam would start exporting urea fertiliser by the end of this year, said association General Secretary Nguyen Dinh Hac Thuy. The export volume can increase further in 2015 when the country''s production output of urea fertiliser hit three million tonnes.
Domestic urea fertiliser producers are seeking opportunities to export their products, particularly to the African market. However, Africa is a high-risk market because banks there do not offer services to ensure payments to foreign companies.
Industry insiders said that to ensure business success in overseas markets, domestic fertiliser producers should pay attention to improving their product quality, reducing production costs and building brand names for their products.
They also said that companies should work together more closely to help them to compete with major exporters from mainland China, Thailand, Russia and countries in the Middle East.