|
Government to regulate fertilizer prices
The government will step in to bring surging fertilizer prices under control in a bid to assist the nation’s farmers, Ministry of Finance Price Management Unit head Nguyen Tien Thoa announced Wednesday.
According to the Vietnam Fertilizer Association (VFA), local fertilizer prices have doubled and even tripled over the past year, reflecting higher global prices and increased demand from local farmers trying to boost harvests to increase exports.
Super phosphate, for instance, has more than doubled from VND1,428 (8.6 US cents) per kilogram in January 2007 to VND3,100 (18.78 cents) per kilogram last month.
NPK also doubled from VND1,852 (11 cents) per kilogram to VND4,100 (24.8 cents) per kilogram in the same period.
Unpredictable fertilizer prices were threatening to harm Vietnam’s agriculture-based economy, Thoa told a national conference on fertilizer in Ho Chi Minh City. He said the government should include fertilizer on their special price management lists.
At present, the government controls the price of basic commodities such as gasoline and electricity.
The finance ministry will better enforce its guidelines on how to calculate prices for imported and locally produced fertilizer, which takes into consideration such items as exchange rates, taxes and production costs.
Thoa said in the future, fertilizer producers will have to notify authorities of prices on new products before they were launched.
He said his agency will also develop a price cap to be applied at “sensitive” times.
The government would also use stern measures, including fining or revoking business licenses, against big producers found colluding to set market prices.
Speaking at the conference, deputy director of the Ministry of Industry and Trade Market Monitoring Management Unit, Pham Quang Vien, said as well as prices, the government should take tighter control of fertilizer quality.
Vien said the local fertilizer market, which consists of more than 500 local and international producers, is being swamped by counterfeit and low-quality products.
Last year, Vien said his unit discovered about 60,000 quality and intellectual property violations.
Between 25 and 30 percent of them involved fertilizer.
Five Star International Corporation Technical Director Shirsath Dasharath told the conference high-quality fertilizer was essential for Vietnam, an important supplier of agricultural products for the world’s increasing population.
In the first eight months of this year, Vietnam exported about US$6.3 billion worth of agricultural products, a 45 percent year-on-year increase and twice as much as its aqua product exports.
But Dasharath said local land was deteriorating due to farmers’ lack of scientific knowledge and agricultural product quality had suffered accordingly.
He urged the government to set up a standard system for fertilizer to ensure only high-quality products were used.
VFA Chairman Do Duy Phi said the government should also include fertilizer producers in the “conditional” industry category which imposes stricter on technology, capital and quality management requirements on businesses.
According to VFA, Vietnam needs 8.3 million tons of fertilizer this year. Domestic producers will supply about 5.4 million tons and the remaining will come from imports. Last year, the country consumed 7.7 million tons of fertilizer.
Thanhnien
|
