​South Korea will import 200 tons of urea from Vietnam - part of the 10,000 tons of urea it needs to import to produce urea solution, according to the South Korean Ministry of Finance. The country is planning to produce about 30,000 tons of urea solution. Also this week, South Korea will send a military oil tanker to Australia to transport 27,000 liters of urea solution back home.

200 tons of urea imported from Vietnam can produce about 650,000 liters of solution, but this amount of urea solution can only meet Korea's demand for a day. Urea aqueous solutions are used to reduce emissions in diesel vehicles. Currently, Korea has about 10 million vehicles using diesel engines.

Already dependent on China for its urea solution, South Korea has been grappling with a shortage of urea solution in recent weeks as China clamps down on exports of fertilizers and related materials. including urea. The reason is that China is in the midst of an electricity crisis due to a shortage of coal and coal is the main raw material for urea production.

A shortage of diesel engine exhaust solution (DEF), also known as urea water, is threatening to disrupt the journeys of tank trucks carrying gasoline and other fuels to local gas stations.

Accordingly, the situation that gas stations do not have enough fuel to distribute will lead to a spike in logistics costs in most industries, which can eventually become a burden for people when the price of consumer goods increases. normal use increases.

Besides, the shortage could have an even bigger impact on Korean industry, which is also required to use urea to cut pollution. According to the Korean Ministry of Environment, in 2020, the country imported 835,000 tons of urea, of which 34.7% is used in industry, 9.8% for cars and the rest is used for fertilizer. fertilizers in agriculture. The auto industry, which is still facing a shortage of semiconductors and soaring raw material prices, is now facing a shortage of urea solution.

Faced with that situation, the President of Korea asked his associates to make diplomatic efforts to ensure the supply of urea solution imported from abroad. To help facilitate imports, the Korean Government plans to cut the import tax on this material to 0% from the current 5 - 6.5%. Customs authorities are also cutting customs clearance time to three to five days instead of the more than 20-day inspection process, according to Industry Minister Moon Sung Wook. The government has also stocked up on a three-month supply of essential vehicles such as fire trucks and ambulances.

Source: Industry and Trade Newspaper