Government: "Production and distribution of Yosusu decreased over the weekend but returned to normal today"

Import of Chinese urea separately from contracted volume
Maximize conversion of industrial urea for vehicle use

Lee Eok-won, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, presides over and speaks at the "14th Joint Inter-Ministerial Response Meeting on Urea Solution Supply" at the Government Seoul Office on the 22nd. (Photo by Ministry of Economy and Finance)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced that although the production and distribution volume of urea solution decreased over the past weekend, it is expected to normalize from the 22nd.

On the same day, the government held the "14th Inter-Ministerial Joint Response Meeting on Urea Solution Supply and Demand" at the Government Complex Seoul, chaired by Lee Eokwon, the 1st Vice Minister of the Ministry of Economy and Finance, and made this announcement. Despite the reduction in urea solution production and distribution due to factory maintenance by the five major manufacturers and holidays for distribution companies over the weekend, it is explained that stabilization will begin from this day. The 1.8 million liters of urea solution that the government had decided to supply first to about 100 key distribution gas stations were completely exhausted on the 20th. The government stated, "From today, the incoming and sales volumes at (key gas stations) are expected to return to normal levels."

As of 3:30 PM on the same day, according to the Opinet site, among 111 gas stations nationwide selling urea solution, 29 stations had inventory below 200 liters, 31 stations had between 200 liters and less than 1,000 liters, and 51 stations had more than 1,000 liters. The government explained that apart from the 1.8 million liters supplied to base gas stations, 1.45 million liters of urea solution made from 1,100 tons of urea held by Company S were supplied until the 20th. Of this, 770,000 liters were supplied to gas stations, and 500,000 liters were supplied to construction companies such as construction sites and construction machinery.

Regarding urea imports, the government stated, "The contracted volume of 18,700 tons and additional volumes are being imported from China." For the existing contracted volumes, to facilitate smooth export inspections, the customs export inspection includes the consignor on the volume management card and guides that the cargo is recorded as emergency supply goods agreed upon between Korea and China on the 9th. The government said, "To further stabilize the supply and demand of urea solution, we plan to review whether the portion of industrial urea stock, excluding the volume reported for sales plans, can be used for vehicles and convert as much as possible for vehicle use." They also plan to analyze the components of wood-use urea imported from Vietnam to determine if it can be used for vehicles.

Of the 2,890 tons of industrial urea imported into the country on the 13th of this month, 298 tons that can be used for vehicles will be input into the production process on this day. The government plans to collect samples at the customs clearance stage when importing industrial urea and analyze the components at the National Institute of Environmental Research and others to pre-assess whether it can be converted into vehicle-use urea solution or mixed with vehicle-use urea.

In on-site inspections related to urea solution, three additional cases of violations of emergency supply adjustment measures were confirmed. So far, the government has detected a total of 11 violation cases and has prosecuted seven of them.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.