HANOI, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Vietnam imported nearly 2.6 million tons of fertilizers worth 728 million U.S. dollars from January and July, posting respective year-on-year drops of 14.1 percent and 9.1 percent.

The country spent 552 million U.S. dollars importing pesticides, down 2.8 percent.

In July alone, Vietnam imported 300,000 tons of fertilizers valued at 84 million U.S. dollars, and spent 90 million U.S. dollars importing pesticides, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on Thursday.

Vietnamese agriculture experts said local farmers nationwide should use fewer amounts of fertilizers and pesticides, especially inorganic ones, because they waste too much money in over-fertilization and overuse of pesticides which also damage environment.

Some 11 million tons of fertilizers are used in Vietnam every year with conventional urea used on rice. Farmers usually lose around half of the fertilizer amount, local experts said, noting that the loss can drop 20 percent if hi-tech fertilizers are used.

In 2017, the country imported 4.6 million tons of fertilizers valued at 1.2 billion U.S. dollars, including 1.8 million tons worth 457.1 million dollars from the Chinese market, said the ministry.

The fertilizers, mostly urea, Ammonium Sulfate, Potassium, Diammonium Phosphate and Nitrogen-Phosphorous-Potassium fertilizers, were imported mainly from China, Russia, Japan, Belarus, Indonesia and Canada.