South Korea is heavily dependent on Chinese imports of a raw material and is facing a shortage crisis

A few days ago, there was news that the price of vegetables in South Korea remained high. The price of green vegetables was even higher than that of "domestic pork belly", and it has been on an upward trend. South Korean people said: they can no longer afford vegetables. If they eat barbecue, they will eat "meat wrapped in vegetables" rather than "vegetables wrapped in meat". Recently, there were media reports that South Korea's automotive urea was in a shortage crisis, and many South Korean long-distance truck drivers were anxious.

Automotive urea, also known as diesel exhaust treatment fluid, can treat nitrogen oxides in diesel exhaust into pollution-free nitrogen and water vapor, so that diesel vehicle exhaust emissions meet national standards and reduce air pollution.

It is understood that as early as September 2015, South Korea began to implement strict exhaust emission standards, requiring sufficient automotive urea to treat nitrogen oxides in exhaust gas. If there is insufficient urea solution in the truck, the car will not be able to start.

Since South Korea has always imported low-priced automotive urea from China , many of its automotive urea factories were shut down around 2011. Therefore, South Korea has long relied on imports from China for its automotive urea.

However, recently many Korean long-distance truck drivers have said that the price of automotive urea has been rising recently and it is extremely difficult to buy it. As the supply of automotive urea becomes difficult, transportation costs have also increased, which may affect their work.

According to the Global Times, relevant personnel living in South Korea said that the price of South Korean urea solution has increased more than ten times recently, and the delivery cycle is also very long.

However, on November 8, 2021, media reported that South Korea had signed an import contract with China for 18,000 tons of urea and negotiations were currently underway. The South Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy said on the same day that the government would shorten the customs clearance time for automotive urea to 3-5 days.

As we enter the third quarter of 2021, the impact of the collection of taxes and quarantines in many parts of the world has changed. Shortages of many materials, rising product prices, insufficient domestic resources, and supply chain shortages have all led to rising prices in many countries.

South Korea's raw material shortage crisis