Amid soaring fertiliser prices compared to early this year, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed the Ministry of Industry and Trade plan a comprehensive inspection on fertiliser production, business, import and export activities in southern provinces.

Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development Tran Thanh Nam said that fertiliser prices in the country and around the world have continuously increased since the beginning of the year.

Specifically, Ca Mau urea increased by 72 per cent from VND6,800 per kilo to VND11,700 per kilo.

DAP Dinh Vu fertiliser rose by 67.3 per cent from VND8,550 to VND14,300 per kilo.

Explaining the reason for the increase in fertiliser prices, experts said prices of input materials for fertiliser production has risen.

Sulfur rose over 200 per cent compared to the lowest point of 2019; ammonia increased by nearly 200 per cent, followed by single fertilisers such as urea, DAP, superphosphate and others.

In addition, global oil, gas and fuel prices increased, resulting in soaring prices for transportation.

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, there was a serious shortage of containers, meaning the cost of transporting containers increased by up to five times. Those are the main reasons for increasing fertiliser prices.

Additionally, China has restricted exports, therefore, there has been a partial lack of fertiliser for some periods.

In agriculture, the summer-autumn crop is the period requiring the most fertiliser, pushing up demand.

As prices of domestically produced and imported fertiliser increase by 50-73 per cent, it is giving rise to the risk of rampant speculation in fertiliser, as well as declining quality.

In order to stabilise fertiliser prices, Team 970 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development proposed that its counterpart at the Ministry of Industry and Trade direct market management departments of southern provinces to regularly inspect and review stores of agricultural materials to clamp down on speculation and stockpiling to create artificial scarcity.

It also proposed the co-ordination with inspectors of the Plant Protection Department and members of the provincial steering committee 389 to step up inspections of fertiliser production, business and import and export activities in the southern area, ensuring the quality and price of fertiliser products in accordance with the State's regulations.

Fertiliser is a commodity subject to price stabilisation, but the stabilisation would be difficult when the price increase was mainly due to the increase in raw material prices, said Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade Tran Quoc Khanh at a meeting with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Wednesday.

It was even more difficult to apply administrative regulations to the market when Viet Nam had made international commitments, he noted.

Therefore, he emphasised the view that the two ministries would agree on solutions to propose to the Government.

At the same time, it is suggested that production enterprises continue to provide adequate sources of goods to the market, rationalise costs and try to have a lower selling price than import prices, giving priority to fertilisers for domestic agricultural production and not export. — VNS