Ca Mau plant starts to blossom

The nation’s agricultural sector is desperate to get its hands on new products

The $900 million Ca Mau fertiliser facility in the southernmost Ca Mau province is designed to manufacture 800,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser a year at full capacity, which would meet 32 per cent of the domestic demand.

According to PetroVietnam’s chairman Phung Dinh Thuc, Ca Mau is an important project under the group’s downstream development strategy and also a driving force for national economic development. The key national project will make an important contribution to ensure food and energy security for the country.

With the operating  Ha Bac, Phu My and Ca Mau urea fertiliser facilities, Vietnam is now able to produce 1.78 million tonnes of urea per year, meeting 71 per cent of the country’s demand.

Thuc stressed that the plant was the last component in the completed Ca Mau gas-power-fertiliser complex. With a capacity of more than two billion cubic metres of gas, eight billion kWh of electricity and 800,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser per year, this complex is expected to help Vietnam save around $400 million per year for importing fertiliser.

“The plant is one of the key national projects with an aim to securing a stable supply of fertiliser for Vietnam until 2025,” Thuc said.

The Ca Mau complex, once in full operation, will generate industrial production value worth up to VND34 trillion ($1.62 billion), and provide direct jobs for 1,200 local workers.

Located in An Khanh commune, 380 kilometres from Ho Chi Minh City, the Ca Mau fertiliser facility started construction in July 2008. It was built under an engineering, procurement and construction contract between  PetroVietnam and Wuhuan Engineering and China National Machinery Import-Export Corporation.