|
Concerns over fertiliser price and quality
Price hikes, counterfeit fertilisers and low-quality fertilisers were the main concerns of participants at a recent national fertiliser conference in HCM City.
The conference was sponsored by the Ministry of Industry and Trade, the Ministry of Agricultural and Rural Development, the Ministry of Finance (MoF), and the Viet Nam Fertiliser Association (VFA).
Global price hikes and the poor management of domestic fertiliser distribution networks have pushed the price of fertiliser to record highs, reported Nguyen Tien Thoa, head of MoF’s Price Management Department at the conference.
According to the VFA, the current prices of various kinds of fertilisers has increased by 250-300 per cent compared to the beginning of last year, the highest recorded price for fertiliser in the past 35 years.
The lack of restrictions on fertiliser speculation, hoarding, monopoly alliances are also among the main causes of price hikes, Thoa said.
To prevent fertiliser price hike fever, MoF will control and apply a tax on fertiliser trading companies that hoard a large amount of fertiliser and do not sell their stocks to the market in order to reap more profits, Thoa said.
Competent management agencies will order fertiliser companies that register their selling prices with unreasonably high prices to recalculate their prices, he said.
Conference participants also brought up the increasing problems of counterfeit and low quality fertilisers on the market.
Pham Quang Vien, deputy head of the Market Management Department at the Ministry of Industry and Trade, said about 40-50 per cent of fertiliser samples inspected have quality lower than their registered quality.
According to Nguyen Lan Hung of the Viet Nam Farmers Association’s Central Committee, it is impossible to manage the quality of fertilisers when it is so easy to apply for licences to become fertiliser producers and traders.
The country has about 500 fertiliser-producing companies, according to the Cultivation Department under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
When there are inspections of competent companies, several low-quality fertiliser-producing establishments temporarily close production or move to other places to avoid inspections, stated Phan Huy Thong, deputy head of the Cultivation Department.
Thong said there are also many companies, whose businesses do not relate to fertiliser such as travel and construction companies, that have registered to expand their business scope to trade fertilisers, creating another hurdle for competent agencies to manage the quality of fertiliser.
Many fertiliser companies face the threat of bankruptcy when imitation fertilisers are sold under their brand names, stated Le Quoc Phong, director of the Binh Dien Fertiliser Company.
Many conference participants suggested that the Government issue a legal framework on managing fertilisers and have strict punishment for those who violate the law.
The country needs about 8.3 million tonnes of various kinds of fertilisers this year. Of the amount, 5.4 million tonnes are domestically produced and 2.9 million tonnes are imported.
VNN
|
