Korea's urea water crisis from China seems to have started after President Moon Jae-in returned to Korea to follow the US supply chain measures aimed at China.
The U.S. held a "supply chain countermeasures meeting" in Rome on the 31st of last month, and President Biden announced "disarmament priority", saying "I will sign an executive order that will simplify access to the defense stockpile so that we can respond more quickly." On the 8th, the mobilization of military transport aircraft and follow-up measures of the introduction of military supplies began.
At a regular briefing on the 8th, Ministry of National Defense spokesman Boo Seung-chan said, “We are currently discussing how much urea water will be finally released. no,” he said.
President Moon Jae-in, who attended the 'Global Countermeasures against Supply Chain Resilience' presided over by President Biden, said at a staff meeting at the Blue House on the 8th about the urea water crisis, which is causing a shortage due to a decrease in supply from China, "Move all available methods to stabilize supply and demand." The Blue House said, “The Blue House has ordered that we do our best to manage supply and demand, such as thoroughly cracking down on the sale of kiosks and utilizing the surplus from the public sector.”
14 countries including the European Union (EU), Korea, Germany, Australia, India, Italy, Italy, and Singapore attended the Rome Supply Chain Global Conference.
At the National Security Council meeting on the 4th, when President Moon was on a tour of Europe after the G2, announced that “diplomatic consultations with related countries can be strengthened to ensure a stable supply of urea water to Korea.” started
KOTRA recognized the Chinese government's move to restrict urea water exports in early October, but reported it to the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy 20 days later.
Assemblyman Jo Jung-hoon said on the same day, "I cannot tolerate such an act of staying for more than 20 days and reporting. It was KOTRA's negligence," and Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Moon Seung-wook said, "(Compensation for damage) must be re-evaluated after the fact. If there is something the government is responsible for, of course I will.”
On the 15th of last month, the General Administration of Customs (Customs) of China changed the export quarantine management method for 29 chemical fertilizer items including urea to “export after approval”.
The majority of Chinese urea exports are imported by India and 14% by Korea.
“In the second week of October, China’s urea production utilization rate was 67.24% and daily average production was 149,000 tons, down 5.6% and 4.1%, respectively, from the same period of the previous year,” said KOTRA Beijing Trade Center. Since then, various policies and measures have been taken to contain the rise in chemical fertilizer prices and to secure sufficient supply.”