According to statistics from General Department of Customs, in the first 9 months of 2024, Vietnam exported over 1.29 million tonnes of fertilizers of all kinds, equivalent to nearly 530.66 million USD, with an average price of 410.3 USD/tonne, up 8.5% in volume, up 8% in turnover but down slightly 0.4% in price compared to the same period in 2023.
In September 2024 alone, 127,651 tonnes of fertilizers of all kinds were exported, reaching 51.84 million USD, with a price of 406 USD/tonne, down 3.1% in volume, down 11.4% in turnover and down 8.6% in price compared to August 2024; compared to September 2023, it increased by 39% in volume, up 25.4% in turnover but down 9.8% in price.
Vietnam's fertilizer exports are mainly to Cambodian market, which alone accounts for 32.4% of total volume and 32.8% of total fertilizer export turnover of the country, reaching 418,893 tonnes, equivalent to 174.2 million USD, with an average price of 415.9 USD/tonne, down 4.5% in volume, down 5.8% in turnover and down 1.4% in price compared to the same period in 2023.
In September 2024 alone, export to this market reached 50,500 tonnes, equivalent to 21.07 million USD, with an average price of 417.3 USD/tonne, up 0.9% in volume, up 1.4% in turnover and up 0.5% in price compared to August 2024.
Following main market of Cambodia is the Korean market with 146,063 tonnes, equivalent to nearly 59.96 million USD, average price is 410.5 USD/tonne, up 189% in volume, up 218.3% in turnover and up 10% in price, accounting for over 11% of total volume and total export turnover of fertilizers of the whole country.
Exports to Malaysian market reached 92,055 tonnes, equivalent to 35.06 million USD, average price is 380.9 USD/tonne, up 24.2% in volume, up 41.9% in turnover and up 14.3% in price, accounting for 7.1% of total volume and 6.6% of total turnover.
Vietnam's fertilizer export market is still adversely affected by fertilizer production costs. Currently, production cost of many types of fertilizers in Vietnam compared to some countries in the world is still quite high, the cost price in some countries is low because they have advantages in resources and lower investment costs. On contrary, according to preliminary statistics of General Department of Customs, in September 2024, the whole country imported 378,158 tonnes of fertilizers, equivalent to 140.35 million USD, average price was 371 USD/tonne, down 15.8% in volume, down 10.9% in turnover but up 5.8% in price compared to August 2024. Compared to September 2023, volume decreased by 19.8%, turnover decreased by 10% but the price increased by 12.1%.
In general, in the first 9 months of 2024, Vietnam's imported fertilizer volume reached nearly 3.85 million tons, worth 1.28 billion USD, average price reached 332.2 USD/tonne, an increase of 32.3% in volume, an increase of 29.7% in turnover but a decrease of 2% in price compared to the same period in 2023.
China is still the leading fertilizer supplier to Vietnam, accounting for 42% of total volume and 40.7% of total fertilizer import turnover of the country, reaching nearly 1.62 million tonnes, equivalent to 519.38 million USD, average price was 321.2 USD/tonne, an increase of 13% in volume, an increase of 16.5% in turnover and an increase of 3% in price compared to the same period in 2023. 2023,
Next, Russian market ranked second, accounting for 11.6% of total volume and 15% of total turnover, with 447,138 tonnes, equivalent to 191.92 million USD, average price was 429.2 USD/tonne, up 130.2% in volume, up 109% in turnover but down 9.1% in price compared to the same period in 2023.
Fertilizer imports from the Lao market reached 263,596 tonnes, equivalent to 68.27 million USD, up 18.4% in volume, but down 9.8% in turnover compared to the same period in 2023, accounting for over 6.9% of total volume and 5.3% of total fertilizer import turnover of the country,
In general, in the first 9 months of 2024, fertilizer imports from most markets increased compared to the same period in 2023.
Assessment Regarding the fertilizer industry's business prospects, SSI Research believes that global fertilizer demand in 2024-2025 period will gradually recover after being severely affected by the El Nino phenomenon in 2023; thereby, promoting fertilizer prices to increase again.
Sharing same view with SSI Research, Rong Viet Securities Company recently also forecasted that urea demand from import markets will increase again when the Winter-Spring crop (wheat, corn) begins, which is also the largest crop of the year, accounting for more than 50% of total fertilizer consumption.
In addition, for domestic market, level of competition from foreign products is still very latent, so in the short term, domestic urea prices may remain stable or decrease slightly in the beginning of the fourth quarter according to fluctuations in world fertilizer prices but are expected to increase again at the end of the quarter when the Winter-Spring crop begins.

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn