New fertiliser plant to grow rural output

The $667 million project developer state-run Vinachem said this plant was a key national project in terms of ensuring food and energy safety for Vietnam. Vinachem deputy general director Chu Van Tuan said operations at the plant in Ninh Phuc Industrial Zone would help stablise domestic fertiliser market.

With an annual production capacity of 560,000 tonnes, the plant will reduce the reliance on urea fertiliser imports of Vietnam, which  currently spends about $1.7 billion importing urea fertiliser annually according to Vinachem.

Vinachem has targeted satisfying the domestic fertiliser demand for agricultural production by 2015 with exports to follow. Also in its  pipeline project is the expansion plan of Ha Bac nitrogenous fertiliser plant in northern Bac Giang province which will see production capacity rise from the current 180,000 tonnes to 500,000 tonnes per year.  

Vietnam at present has operational Ha Bac, Phu My with an annual capacity of 800,000 tonnes and Ca Mau urea fertiliser facilities, which are able to produce 1.78 million tonnes of urea per year, meeting 71 per cent of the domestic demand at around 2.5 million tonnes.

The $900 million Ca Mau fertiliser factory in the southernmost Ca Mau province, the largest of those having state-run PetroVietnam’s investment, officially opened in January 2012, nearly four years after construction.

Together with Phu My, the 62 hectare factory has a design capacity of 800,000 tonnes of urea fertiliser per year and will make a considerable contribution to fertiliser supply for agricultural production in the Mekong Delta region.

In a similar development, privately-run Cong Thanh Group is also working on the construction of a urea fertiliser plant with an annual capacity of 560,000 tonnes in central Thanh Hoa province’s Nghi Son Economic Zone.

Phung Ha, head of Ministry of Industry and Trade’s Chemical Department, said Vietnam was expected to shift into exporting fertiliser when these projects were in full swing.