Competition in NPK fertiliser market heats up

A farmer buy NPK fertiliser from the Cà Mau Fertiliser Company in Central Highland region. Cà Mau Fertiliser Company is emerging as a big competitor in the NPK market after acquiring the Korean – Vietnamese Fertiliser Factory. Photo thesaigontimes.vn

HÀ NỘI — With the domestic urea fertiliser market saturated, large fertiliser producers are stepping up to increase their market share in the NPK fertiliser market, making the competitiveness in the business segment more intense.

Phú Mỹ Fertiliser Company (stock code DPM) and Cà Mau Fertiliser Company (stock code DCM) have recently moved to increase their market share in the NPK fertiliser segment.

Cà Mau Fertiliser Company is emerging as a big competitor in the NPK market after acquiring the Korean – Vietnamese Fertiliser Factory with a charter capital of more than VNĐ2 trillion and a capacity of 360,000 tonnes of NPK per year.

The acquisition has helped almost double the Cà Mau Fertiliser Company ‘s NPK output, to around 660,000 tonnes per year.

With a strategic geographical location and large warehouse, the Korean – Vietnamese Fertiliser Factory is expected to help Cà Mau Fertiliser Company penetrate deeply into large potential NPK markets in the Southeast, Central Highland and Central regions.

Before the acquisition of the factory, Cà Mau Fertiliser Company ‘s NPK factories mainly served the south west, where the company accounts for 61 per cent of the market share and the Cambodian market. 

As for Phú Mỹ Fertiliser Company, the factory’s NPK segment recovered and gained a gross profit margin of 5 per cent in the first quarter of 2024, after recording gross losses in the previous four consecutive quarters.

According to experts, Phú Mỹ Fertiliser Company and Cà Mau Fertiliser Company have great advantages in the market thanks to their modern technologies, which will help them cut production costs.

According to data from Viet Dagon Securities Company (VDSC), the Vietnamese NPK market is currently fragmented with small producers accounting for 52 per cent of the market share. The country’s two largest NPK producers, named Bình Điền Fertiliser Joint Stock Company (stock code BFC) and Lâm Thao Super Phosphate and Chemical Joint Stock Company (stock code LAS), account for only 15 per cent and 19 per cent of the market share, respectively.

Among the main types of fertilisers, Việt Nam has become self-sufficient in the production of urea fertiliser, NPK and phosphate fertiliser. The country only has to fully import kali fertiliser because it has no source of potash ore.

NPK fertiliser accounts for 35 per cent of Việt Nam’s total annual fertiliser demand because it is a synthetic fertiliser and is considered more economical, as it contains all three ingredients of nitrogen, phosphorus and kali. Urea and phosphate fertilisers account for 28 per cent and 17 per cent of the country’s total annual fertiliser demand, respectively. — VNS