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Korea may face another urea crisis with only 3 months' worth of reserve
2023-12-08
Korea may face another urea shortage, as the government has failed to secure enough supply of the material for its stockpile or find alternate exporters that are not China despite having experienced a urea crisis two years ago.
Korea's stockpile of key resources has been revealed to be bare. The secured three months' worth of urea is mostly in the hands of companies, and the reserve of rare materials is only half the amount of the set goal.
Chinese customs authorities blocked clearance for urea shipments bound for Korea without giving an explanation. Urea is a chemical compound used as a fertilizer or in making exhaust fluid for diesel engines.
The government said Tuesday that around three months' worth of industry-grade urea has been secured, which is the added amount of the remaining stock and imports scheduled to come in from countries other than China, including Vietnam. Most of the secured stockpile is owned or will be imported by companies that use urea, such as Lotte Fine Chemical.
The government holds 6,000 tons, secured through the Public Procurement Service (PPS). That amount merely accounts for 2 percent of the 290,000 tons imported from January to October this year and only enough to run cars for a month.
Last year, Chinese urea accounted for 67 percent of Korea's net urea imports. This year, however, 90 percent of the country's urea imports came from China from January to October.
Meanwhile, the budget for next year to find new measures to procure urea for cars was set at "zero" in the PPS's reserve fund execution plan, according to the National Assembly Budget Office's budget analysis report for next year.
Korea also doesn't have enough critical minerals in the stockpile that are essential for the semiconductor and EV battery industries.
The average reserve of 13 rare metals held by the Korea Mine Rehabilitation and Mineral Resources Corporation can last Korea for about 50 days, according to People Power Party Rep. Lee Jong-bae on Tuesday.
This is half the amount of the government goal of 100 days.
"If over 70 percent of a resource is imported from one country, it should be treated and secured as a key material, even if it is not rare, such as urea. A systematic plan to secure key minerals should also be established at once," Kang Cheon-gu, visiting professor of energy resources engineering at Inha University, said.
"The government must keep up a sufficient amount of inventory and be responsible for distribution in times of emergency," he added.
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