by Jeong Ilwoong
Published 14 Dec.2023 13:39(KST)
The Public Procurement Service (PPS) announced on the 14th that it has signed a purchase contract for 10,000 tons of urea from Vietnam in collaboration with Lotte Fine Chemical.
The contract was signed as a joint purchase to resolve supply difficulties of urea, separate from the PPS's efforts to expand public stockpiling of urea.
The urea contracted by the PPS amounts to 5,000 tons and is scheduled to be released to small and medium-sized urea solution manufacturers as soon as it arrives in the country.
Including this, the total domestic stock of urea and urea solution, along with the volume expected to be imported from third countries, is estimated by the PPS to cover 6.8 months of supply.
The domestic stock of urea and urea solution has been steadily increasing, recorded at 3 months on the 30th of last month, 3.7 months on the 6th of this month, 4.3 months on the 8th, and 5.1 months on the 13th.
The PPS has recently expanded the scale of public stockpiling of urea from 6,000 tons (one month’s supply) to 12,000 tons (two months’ supply) and is focusing on stabilizing the supply of vehicle urea by early releasing 2,000 tons of publicly stocked urea.
A PPS official stated, “We are currently conducting a demand survey for urea among domestic urea solution manufacturers through relevant government departments,” adding, “If demand is high, we plan to pursue additional joint purchases.”
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