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Fertilizer fever pushing up prices
Fertilizer prices have been increasing continuously over the last two weeks – good news for suppliers but bad news for farmers.
In Hanoi, fertilizers urea and DAP are on the increase. Ureas is now selling at 6,200 dong per kilo, while DAP prices have also increased by 100-200 dong per kilo to 6,800-10,000 dong per kilo, despite the profuse supply, low demand and the price decrease tendency in the world market.
In Mekong Delta, the price has increased by 10 percent over the beginning of November. The urea price in An Giang province, for example, is now selling at 6,000 dong per kilo, an increase of 800 dong per kilo over the previous week.
Duy Thanh Company in Kien Giang province said it has had to adjust sale prices four or five times within half a month. Some products saw a sharp price increase of 10,000 dong per pack within a day.
According to Agroinfo, the agriculture information centre under the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the fertilizer price has increased because of three reasons. Firstly, the dollar price increase has prompted sellers to raise sale prices in VND.
Secondly, domestic enterprises have speculated on products with a hope to push prices up.
Thirdly, farmers rushing to purchase fertilizer to prepare for the winter-spring crop, because they fear that the prices would go up even further.
The fertilizer price increase has made suppliers happy but farmers worried. A farmer in Kien Giang province complained the price increase has forced every household to spend several million more dong. He said that farmers in Mekong Delta, who always worry about fertilizer shortage, are trying to hoard products to be sure that they will have enough fertilizer for the winter-spring crop
According to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, Vietnam imported 3.87 million tonnes of fertilizer in the first 10 months of the year, up by 37 percent in quantity, but down by 15.12 percent in value compared to the same period of 2008.
Vietnam is now importing fertilizer from 14 markets, especially from China which is providing 66 percent of imports.
Meanwhile, the urea price in China tends is on the decrease, now hovering around yuan1,650-1,700 per tonne.
Therefore, Agroinfo researcher Truong Hong Kim believes that the fertilizer price increase will only exist in short term. She said that as the supply is profuse enough to meet the demand for production until the end of the year, the price of the products will be stabilized in the time to come.
VietNamNet/TBKTVN
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