According to the report of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, the country’s import value was estimated at $ 58 million in March and $ 183 million in the first three months of this year.

China was leading the list of the country’s biggest fertilizer import markets in the period with $ 53.1 per cent of the total market share.

In the first two months of this year, the country’s import of pesticide and materials from China, India, Germany and Thailand increased by 29.4 per cent; 34.5 per cent; 34.5 per cent and 16.6 per cent, respectively year – on – year.

The report also showed that in the country’s imports of fertilizer of all kinds were estimated at 451,000 tons worth of $ 131 million in March and 1.22 million tons worth of $ 338 million in the first three months of this year, up by 31.5 per cent in quantity and 23.8 per cent in value over the same period of 2016.

Of the figure, the imports of Urea fertilizer were estimated at 231,000 tons worth of $ 62 million, up by over 2 folds, both in quantity and in value compared with the same period last year; while the imports of SA fertilizer were estimated at 215,000 tons worth of $ 26 million, down by 10.5 per cent in quantity and 14.5 per cent in value.

In the first two months of this year, China was the country’s biggest fertilizer import markets with 36 per cent of the total market share. The country’s imports of fertilizer from the Philippines in the first two months of the year was up by over 12 folds in quantity and over 10 folds in value over the same period last year.