Nghe An farmers worried as fertilizer prices start to rise again
(Baonghean.vn) - Since mid-August, fertilizer prices have been on the rise again after consecutive downward adjustments. The increase in fertilizer prices right at the time when the 2023 summer-autumn rice harvest is being completed and the winter crop is being started will be a significant burden for farmers.
Over the past month, the world price of urea has continuously increased by about 24-50%, equivalent to the beginning of the year. In particular, since the beginning of August, the price of this item has continued to increase by 18-48 USD/ton compared to the end of last month. In the face of the "dancing" world price of urea, domestic fertilizer enterprises have continuously announced price increases.
Accordingly, Ca Mau Fertilizer Plant announced an increase in the price of Urea sold at the factory to 10,000 VND/kg, in Nghe An to 10,150 VND/kg, the increase ranges from 500-1,000 VND/kg; the price of Phu My urea in Nghe An is over 10,000 VND/kg.
According to the market, the prices of fertilizers such as potassium, NPK, DAP, SA... are currently increasing. Accordingly, the price of Phu My NPK ranges from 17,300-17,600 VND/kg, the price of Viet Nhat NPK is 16,700-17,300 VND/kg, an increase of about 2,500-3,500 VND/kg compared to June. The price of potassium is from 14,400-15,900 VND/kg, an increase of about 1,500-2,500 VND compared to June.
According to experts' analysis, the reason for the increase in fertilizer prices is due to "following" rice prices. On the other hand, because the world fertilizer market has increased in price, domestic fertilizer prices have also adjusted to increase accordingly. The increase in fertilizer prices comes at a time when farmers are focusing on harvesting the 2023 summer-autumn rice crop, so there is no immediate impact. However, when starting to produce the winter crop, this will be a significant burden for farmers.
This winter crop, Mr. Nguyen Quang Ha (Thanh Xuan commune, Thanh Chuong) plans to plant 4,600m2green squash. Currently, he has sown seeds, prepared the soil, and made beds to grow squash. Large production requires high initial investment costs, so when he heard the announcement of increased fertilizer prices, he couldn't help but worry.
Mr. Ha said: “To invest in 10 sao of squash, it will cost 150kg of urea, 300kg of superphosphate and 130kg of potassium chloride. According to the announcement, up to now, the prices of urea, phosphorus and potassium have increased by 300-3,000 VND compared to the beginning of the summer-autumn crop. With the amount of fertilizer needed for 10 sao of squash, the additional cost will be nearly 2 million VND”.
After the summer-autumn harvest, Ms. Nguyen Thi Chung's family (Thuong Tan Loc commune, Nam Dan) plans to plant 4 sao of biomass corn to sell to farms for animal feed. Accordingly, each sao needs 12 kg of synthetic phosphate, 20 kg of nitrogen and 10 kg of potassium. With the price increase as in the last 2 times, she will have to spend nearly 500,000 VND more on input costs for corn.
Ms. Chung said: “Now, when I go to the store near my house to ask to buy phosphate fertilizer, I just found out that it has increased compared to the summer-autumn crop. The increase in fertilizer prices puts farmers at a disadvantage because they have to invest more capital, while winter crop production depends a lot on the weather.”
Entering the winter crop production, on the one hand, to cope with the increase in nitrogen fertilizer prices, on the other hand, people are also gradually moving towards organic production, so many localities have oriented people to compost organic fertilizer from agricultural by-products, make microbial fertilizer from pig and cow manure, vermicompost; make organic nitrogen from composting miscellaneous fish... Typical localities are: Tan Ky, Quynh Luu, Do Luong, Thanh Chuong...
Mr. Nguyen Van Trinh - Chairman of the Farmers' Association of Quynh Thach Commune (Quynh Luu) shared: “The winter crop is the main crop of local households growing vegetables, especially vegetables: cabbage, lettuce, tomatoes, Malabar spinach, kohlrabi, etc. However, due to mass production, the price of winter vegetables is often cheap, the economic value is not as high as other crops. Therefore, the high price of fertilizer makes people very worried. To enter the winter crop production this year, we have instructed people to compost microbial fertilizer from water fern; compost nitrogen from trash fish and use manure to reduce the amount of inorganic fertilizer, both saving fertilizer costs, providing balanced nutrition for plants and protecting the environment".
In addition, localities have also linked up with companies and businesses to provide fertilizers in the form of deferred payments to farmers with low interest rates to create conditions for people to feel secure in sticking to their fields for production.
According to forecasts, when the winter crop season peaks, the spring crop season in September and October will be the time of the year when fertilizer consumption is at its highest, and the demand for fertilizer will increase. Therefore, fertilizer prices will tend to increase further. However, there will not be a "fever" in prices like the previous two years.
