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PROCEDURES FOR IMPORTING FERTILIZERS AS RAW MATERIALS

Like all living things, instead of eating food like animals, plants absorb nutrients from the soil to nourish themselves. However, when the crops are harvested, the nutrients in the soil are also lost. Usually, in a short time, the soil cannot replenish its nutrients, so we need to fertilize to provide the necessary nutrients for plants into the soil. That is why an agricultural country like Vietnam always has a very high demand for fertilizer.

To grow, plants need many different nutrients, of which the three main components are Nitrogen, Phosphorus and Potassium compounds. In addition, fertilizer manufacturers also mix in secondary nutrients to help increase the effectiveness of fertilization. In recent years, the fertilizer industry in Vietnam has developed strongly, however, there are still many potential risks, high domestic raw material prices, ... so the products created cannot compete with imported fertilizers, so to reduce costs, manufacturers often import raw materials from countries around the world such as Japan, India, Russia, ... to use as raw materials to produce fertilizers before selling to the market.

1. How to identify fertilizer as raw material?

Based on the purpose of use to determine which fertilizer is the raw material fertilizer. Specifically, imported fertilizer will not be used for direct sale, but the importing entity will perform one, some or all of the following activities: mixing, blending, grinding, screening, preliminary processing, composting, fermentation, extraction, recycling, drying, moistening, granulation, packaging and other activities through physical, chemical or biological processes, ... to create new fertilizer products.

2. Procedures for importing fertilizers as raw materials

Because the imported object is fertilizer, imported fertilizer must still meet the quality standards of fertilizer according to the regulations of the National Technical Regulation on Fertilizer Quality. Different types of fertilizer will have different quality standards.

For example, to import the following types of fertilizers as raw materials, the following corresponding criteria must be met:

• When importing Urea fertilizer, the total nitrogen content (% mass Nts) must be ≥ 46%; and the humidity (for solid form) must be ≤ 1%;
• For NK mixed fertilizer, the total nitrogen content and effective potassium content must be ≥ 18%; Total nitrogen content ≥ 3%; Effective potassium content ≥ 3%; Moisture (for solid form) ≤ 5%.

According to the provisions of Clause 2, Article 44 of the Law on Cultivation 2018, importing fertilizers as raw materials to produce other fertilizers only requires applying for a fertilizer import license.

1. Documents required to apply for a license to import fertilizers as raw materials for fertilizer production:

• Application for fertilizer import;
• Technical declaration;
• Manufacturer's documents on quality standards, instructions for use, safety warnings and limitations of the fertilizer;
• Certificate of Free Sale (CFS) issued by the exporting country;
• Certificate of business registration or Document proving legal status.
• Issuing authority: Plant Protection Department - Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
• License issuance period: 07 working days from the date of valid application.
• Implementation result: Fertilizer import license, the license is valid for 01 year. This license cannot be extended, when the license expires according to regulations, the enterprise must carry out similar procedures to apply for a new import license.

3. Some notes related to import activities

Although imported for the purpose of making raw materials for fertilizer production, imported fertilizers must still meet quality standards as prescribed in the National Technical Regulations on Fertilizer Quality to be cleared through customs;

In addition, the entity importing fertilizer as raw material must have a Certificate of eligibility for fertilizer production or a Sales Contract with a fertilizer production facility or equivalent documents (if importing to sell to another facility as raw material for fertilizer production).

In addition, NP LOGISTICS specializes in consulting on fertilizer import procedures. Individuals or businesses that are in need of importing fertilizers or want to learn more about the procedures can contact Hotline (Zalo OA): 0917.32.46.39 or email: customerservice @nplglobal.vn or sales@nplglobal.vn