<Anchor>



Urea, an essential consumable for diesel engine vehicles such as cargo trucks, is running out of stock. This is due to export restrictions from China, a key raw material supplier, and there are concerns that it could lead to a logistics crisis.



By Kim Jung-woo, staff reporter.



<Reporter>



A gas station in Yangcheon-gu, Seoul has run out of stock as truck drivers looking for urea water have recently surged.



[Gas station employee: I want to sell it, but I can't sell it because I don't have anything, but one or two a day when I said there was a big



urea water,

30

went

out that day.]

As a component that converts and nitrogen, it is an essential product for SCR, a pollutant reduction device that is mandatory on trucks and buses.



If the urea water is not added in time, the engine does not start or the output is lowered, making it difficult to operate normally.



The urea water crisis has occurred because China, which has supplied two-thirds of urea, a key raw material, has restricted urea exports since the middle of this month.



As urea imports were canceled or delayed, and hoarding began, the price of urea water in Korea jumped nearly 50% in two weeks, and most of them are sold out at online shopping malls.



Unlike passenger cars, which replenish urea water every 15,000 to 20,000 km mileage, truck drivers who have to add urea water every 300 to 400 km are especially emergency.



[Truck driver: If you put 10 liters of a bottle, the commuter car rides for about a week.

The longest distance from here is 400km, 800km round trip.

Then one bottle (10 liters) is needed.]



Of the 3.3 million diesel trucks in Korea, about 2 million require urea, which could lead to a logistics crisis.



[Kim Pil-soo/Professor of Automobile Department at Daelim University: Because the negative effect increases, this does not change, so it is the most important part to secure a certain amount by increasing the inventory.] The



Ministry of Trade, Industry

and

Energy also started to understand the situation, but China was a factor. Supply and demand instability is expected to continue as the problem of shortage of coal is not easily resolved.