Fertiliser exports set to spike

illustration photo - source: vitas.org.v

Vietnam National Chemical Group (Vinachem) deputy general director Ninh Binh Fertiliser Project Management Board Chu Van Tuan said the construction of the Ninh Binh urea fertiliser plant would be completed on schedule in November 2011, after 42 months of construction.

With an annual production capacity of 560,000 tonnes, the Vinachem plant will add capacity to the domestic fertiliser market which is forced to import around 60 per cent of the fertiliser per year  to meet local demand.

The PetroVietnam Ca Mau urea fertiliser plant is expected to finish construction in late 2011 or early 2012. The project reportedly fulfilled 74.4 per cent of total work volume by the end of last year.

Once completed, the plant could churn out 800,000 tonnes of the fertiliser per year.

When these two plants come on stream, domestic fertiliser production capacity will be augmented from current more than 900,000 tonnes per year (740,000 tonnes provided by Phu My plant and 180,000 tonnes by Ha Bac plant) to over 2.2 million tonnes.

Meanwhile, the Ha Bac plant expansion plan will raise production from 180,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes per year. 

Cong Thanh Group also reportedly handles the construction of a urea fertiliser plant with an annual capacity of 560,000 tonnes per year in central Thanh Hoa province’s Nghi Son Economic Zone.

Domestic urea fertiliser production may soon exceed three million tonnes per year.

Head of Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Chemical Department Phung Ha said Vietnam would shift towards exporting fertiliser when these above projects were in full swing and supply outpaced demand.

A PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation (PVFCCo), developer of Phu My Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant, showed that Vietnam consumes 1.7-2 million tonnes of the fertiliser each year.

The country needed to import 720,000-950,000 tonnes of fertiliser annually on average in the past six years after the Phu My Nitrogenous Fertiliser Plant came into operation (except 2009 when fertiliser import volume hit 1.3 million tonnes).