Fertilizer business: Miserably for fake and counterfeit goods

The country now has more than 1,000 fertilizer production facilities. Source: The Internet.

Afraid of fake goods more than counterfeit goods

Over the past time, whether the Ministry of Industry and Commerce and Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development jointly manage or only MARD management as currently, the problem of fake fertilizer, poor quality has not been yet resolved fundamentally.

Being one of the leading companies in the fertilizer industry, Lam Thao Superphosphate and Chemicals Company suffered a lot of damage when counterfeits and imitation goods appeared on the market. According to Mr. Vu Xuan Hong - Deputy General Director of the Company: There are mechanisms and clear sanctions processing to deal with the problem of artificial fertilizers. What is most afraid of the fertilizer is imitation fertilizer, poor quality. Low-quality fertilizer producers are still licensed, standardized and regulated, only when specific functional quality inspection agencies detect new standards deviate from the standards registered by enterprises. In fact, the nutrient content of imitation products is very low. The companies also included in the content declaration, in packaging design, tricked people and management agencies. “For example, with NPK products alone, there are many counterfeiting companies claiming that it is just their registered name with low nutrient content. However, when sold to the market, these companies sell close to the price of fertilizer production standards. This leads to the profit of the duplication business is high that the genuine business enterprises are serious competition”, Mr. Hong emphasized.

Talking to a reporter from the Customs Newspaper, Director of a fertilizer distribution company of Lam Thao Company in Bac Giang, said poor quality fertilizers appeared rampant and even bristling on the brink of bankruptcy. “Over time, enterprises regularly join with representatives of Lam Thao Company to organize training courses on the use of Lam Thao fertilizer to help farmers distinguish true products, imitation goods and use properly. However, in fact, in the province of Bac Giang, the reproduction of counterfeit samples of fertilizer products of Lam Thao, mixed with real products, but the price is lower than 100-200 VND/kg is quite commonly. Because of a cheaper price or mistaken, farmers should still be deceived. On agents, agents level 2, level 3 because of profit, are a highly favored counterfeiter, advising farmers to buy these fertilizers. Thus, both the farmers and legitimate businesses are losing, only counterfeiters get profit, said the Director of the enterprise.

Need only 300 fertilizer companies?

To manage the fertilizer market more transparently, Mr. Vu Xuan Hong said that: It is necessary to have a strong processing treatment with units producing fake goods, poor quality goods. In addition, it is necessary to have a common set of standards for fertilizer production to determine which fertilizers are fake or poor quality fertilizers. When the standards were set up, new localities were not widespread. Representatives of some other companies said that: With regard to imitation goods, the name imitation prestige products, need to specify, naming fertilizer to avoid confusion. Along with that, advertising the content of the label should also be more specific, avoiding the case where many establishments give out labels similar to reputable products to deceive people.

Related to the story of fertilizer management, according to Mr. Nguyen Hong Phong - General Director of Tien Nong Agriculture Company: The key point is that Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development must have the tools to control and determine how many companies in the whole country, how many fertilizer brands are produced and circulated on the market etc. “With the conditions of Vietnam, the country only needs 300 fertilizer companies. The fertilizer industry should be regulated as a conditional business. Specifically, each fertilizer production enterprises must have a minimum charter capital of 10 billion VND or more, not only 500 million VND can also produce fertilizer as a present. In addition, fertilizer companies must also have a national standard analysis room. Local authorities need to pay attention and control to see if there is a fertilizer production facility in the locality”, Mr. Phong said.

Some experts acknowledge that the Government has issued Decree 202/2013/NĐ-CP (Decree 202) on fertilizer management. However, after more than 3 years in effect, Decree 202 still has many shortcomings. Typically, the definition of essential substances in inorganic fertilizers is incomplete. In practice, although the regulations specify the standards required for inorganic fertilizers, testing centers do not stick to them for testing, leading to the fact that the products were tested for non-standard quality are sold rampantly in the market. Therefore, at present, it is necessary to focus on amending and refining the Decree 202 closely to reality. Ministries, especially Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, have to preside over and coordinate with the Ministry of Science and Technology to promulgate Vietnamese fertilizer standards and at the same time make clear necessary assessments. The testing centers also need modern machinery, sticking to state standards promulgated for certification.