S. Korea to import urea water solution from Australia amid supply shortage

SEOUL, Nov. 7 (Yonhap) -- South Korea said Sunday it plans to import urea water solution, a key material used in diesel vehicles to reduce emissions, from Australia this week in a bid to ease its supply shortage that has caused soaring prices.

The government has decided to mobilize military aircraft to bring 20,000 liters of urea solution from Australia, the finance ministry said after a meeting on security and the economy.

"The country plans to mobilize all available diplomatic channels to import thousands of tonnes of urea within this year not only from Australia but also from other countries, including Vietnam," the government said.

South Korea has been grappling with a shortage of urea water solution, known as diesel exhaust fluid, in recent weeks, as China tightened exports of fertilizers and related materials, including urea, in October amid a power crisis caused by a coal supply shortage. Coal is the main feedstock for urea.

South Korea heavily relies on China for its supply of urea water solution, as 97.6 percent of its import came from China in the first nine months of this year. In around 2013, local manufacturers of urea shut down business as they lost price competitiveness over foreign rivals, such as China and Russia.

In Korea, a relatively high portion of diesel cars caused a shortage of urea water solution.

The number of diesel vehicles is estimated at some 10 million, about 38 percent of registered cars. Of them, 4 million diesel cars, including 2 million trucks, need to use urea water solution to cut emissions under the country's tightened emission rules.

sooyeon@yna.co.kr
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