Concerns are growing that the price of urea solution, used for vehicle operation and fertilizer, may rise due to the Middle East crisis. Against this backdrop, the government said on the 26th that it has secured more than two months' worth of inventories of automotive urea and urea solution. It also said it plans to import about 6,000 tons of additional urea by next month.
The Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment said in a news release that urea for producing automotive urea solution is sufficiently stockpiled and that most gas stations are selling urea solution as usual.
According to Opinet (Korea National Oil Corporation (KNOC) oil price information site), 99.5% (4,233) of the 4,253 gas stations nationwide that provide urea solution inventory information had stock. As of the 24th, the average retail price of urea solution at gas stations was 1,528 won per liter, about 40 won lower than a year earlier.
Automotive urea solution converts nitrogen oxides, air pollutants emitted by diesel vehicles, into water and nitrogen. It is essential for the selective catalytic reduction (SCR) devices installed on diesel vehicles manufactured or imported since 2016. Korea imports 65% of its vehicle and industrial urea from China. Saudi Arabia and Qatar account for only 4.8%.