Vinacam stops importing DAP Korea fertilizer because of high cadmium content

Mr. Vu Duy Hai, the General Director of Vinacam, said that according to the plan, the group will import a shipment of DAP Korea fertilizer in April 2023. However, when offering this shipment, the manufacturer, Namhae Group, announced that it could not guarantee the quality of DAP Korea to meet Vietnam's import standards.

Specifically, the content of Cadmium (Cd) in DAP Korea fertilizer can be at 30-40mg/kg, 3 times higher than Vietnam's regulations (maximum 12mg/kg). Namhae asked the buyer not to complain about this.

Cadmium is a heavy metal that, and if exceeded, will remain in the soil and in agricultural products, adversely affecting the environment and human health.

According to Assoc. Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Ha, Vietnam Soil Science Association, cadmium, lead and arsenic are 3 toxic substances and almost confirmed to be very harmful to the health of humans and animals. In which, Cd is an undesirable heavy metal and is the main pollutant in fertilizers of interest.

Some research results in recent years have shown that vegetables and fruits are very susceptible to cadmium contamination when there is a residue of this substance in the soil. For example, according to a research result of the Institute for Agricultural Environment, tomatoes grown on soil contaminated with Cd as high as 1 mg/kg will have a potential risk of Cd poisoning that affects human health.

Therefore, with the responsibility of the importer, in order to protect the producers who are Vietnamese farmers and consumers, Vinacam has had many correspondences with Nahae, emphasizing that imported products must comply with Vietnamese law on environmental protection and food safety.

Vinacam has also expressed its willingness to share profits (accepting higher prices to import) for Namhae to select raw materials and fully implement the production process to help ensure products meet quality requirements. 

Vinacam has also repeatedly warned Namhae not to continue to bring DAP produced by this group to Vietnam until the Cadimi problem has been resolved. However, according to Namhae's announcement, up to now, the group has not been able to overcome the problem of cadmium content exceeding the threshold in DAP Korea products.

From the above reasons, Vinacam Group has officially informed customers about the temporary suspension of the import of DAP Korea fertilizer produced by Namhae until the quality is improved in accordance with the provisions of Vietnamese law.

It is also known that in order to stabilize the distribution market of DAP Korea in Vietnam, since 2019, Namhae Group (DAP Namhae factory) has had a letter of commitment to partition customers importing and consuming DAP Korea in Vietnam.

Specifically, in the southern region of Vietnam, Nahae assigned Vinacam Group and Nguyen Phan Company to import and distribute the products, while in the central region, Tuong Nguyen Company and Huynh Thanh Company are assigned to distribute the products.

In the past time, the import and distribution of DAP Korea products in the southern region has been established stably, the quality of goods is well controlled, has increasingly created trust and high support of consumers for DAP Korea fertilizer in general and DAP Korea fertilizer under the brand names of Vinacam Group, Nguyen Phan Company in particular.