The PetroVietnam Fertiliser and Chemicals Corporation (PVFC Co), better known as the Phu My Fertiliser (DPM), estimated its first-half revenues will reach 4.945 trillion VND (226.8 million USD) and pull in profits of 810 billion VND (37.2 million USD).

The prediction would mean 3 percent more in revenues and 13 percent more in profits than the target it set at the start of the year.

Other fertiliser companies including Phu My urea, Phu My NPK, Phu My Kali (potassium), Phu My SA and Phu My DAP also did well, surpassing their targets.

According to PVFC Co General Director Cao Hoi Duong, the encouraging results could be attributed to lower oil prices in the global market, which helped reduce gas input costs at the Phu My Fertiliser Plant.

The rising quality and reputation of Phu My fertiliser products in the market and a strong distribution network both contributed to positive sales in the first six months, Duong said.

Phu My fertiliser products currently hold 48 percent of the domestic market share. According to a 2014 survey conducted by the market research firm Nielsen Vietnam, the Phu My fertiliser brand continued to best other major fertiliser brands in Vietnam.

On June 7, PVFC Co signed an engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPC) contract with a contractor consortium to expand Phu My's NH3 Unit and build the Phu My NPK Complex.

The complex project, with a total investment capital of 5 trillion VND (229.4 million USD), will use up to date technology to produce local high-quality NPK fertiliser to take over the import dominated NPK market. The complex is slated to operate from the second quarter of next year.

According to Duong, growing competition, rising input costs due to non-deductible VAT for fertiliser products, as well as volatile foreign exchange rates and globally declining prices are the main challenge to the company's second half of the year.

PVFC Co projects its total sales will reach over 4.3 trillion VND (197.2 million USD) and bring in a profit of 720 billion VND (33 million USD) in the last six months of the year, slightly lower than the first half.

DPM shares were traded around 29,000 VND (1.33 USD) on the Hochiminh Stock Exchange in recent sessions.

In March, its subsidiary the Southeast PetroVietnam Fertiliser& Chemicals Co listed 12.5 million shares on the Hanoi Stock Exchange under the code of PSE.

The company said other subsidiaries including PVFC Co Southwest, PVFC Co Central, PVFC Co North and PVFC Co Packaging would debut shares in the next two quarters of the year.-VNA