Fertilizer export tax scrapped

The Ministry of Finance has abolished export duties on fertilizers, a month after local producers requested assistance in clearing their stockpiles.

According to a decision signed on Monday, fertilizers for export, including urea, potassium diammonium phosphate (DAP) and ammonium sulfate (SA), are no longer subject to tariffs. The decision is expected to help local producers reduce their stocks, which have built up as domestic consumption fell and world prices dropped.

In July, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung decided to tax urea and potassium fertilizer at VND5,000 (30 US cents) per kilogram and DAP and SA at VND4,000 (24 cents) a kilogram to ensure sufficient domestic supply and stabilize prices.

The Vietnam Fertilizer Association (VSA) last month asked the government to scrap the tariffs to help reduce producers’ 500,000 ton stockpile.

VSA Deputy Chairman Nguyen Hac Thuy said Tuesday the stockpile had now increased to about two million tons.

As farmers are facing a cash shortage due to the drop in rice prices during its last crop, they have not yet bought fertilizer for their new crop, Thuy said.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development’s planting department said farmers nationwide would need more than three million tons of fertilizers for the winter-spring crop, which has just started being planted.

Tuoi Tre

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