The government says it's not a 'Yosusu Crisis'... "Delivery delayed 60 days... Please cancel my order"

Unable to Handle Online Orders
Gas Stations Facing Imminent Stock Depletion

Since the beginning of this month, China has suspended customs clearance of industrial urea exports to South Korea, triggering a 'red alert' for domestic urea supply. Although the government is actively defending to prevent a 'urea solution crisis,' severe shortages are occurring at frontline gas stations and online shopping malls.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

At 'Lotte On,' an online shopping mall exclusively selling urea solution by Lotte Fine Chemical, delivery delays of up to 60 days or more are currently occurring.

The shopping mall has announced that due to a surge in orders this month, orders placed after the 8th are delayed by up to two months or more. Orders placed from the 1st of this month and earlier also take up to four weeks or more.

Lotte Fine Chemical is selling the 10ℓ Urox product on this mall for 15,950 KRW, with a purchase limit of one per ID within 30 days.

Other shopping malls have sent text messages to buyers requesting cancellation of purchases due to the surge in urea solution orders. A sales representative explained, "Since there is currently no stock at all, we are sending messages asking customers to cancel orders even if they come in."

In this process, it has been confirmed that the government requested sales vendors not to stop sales due to stockouts. An industry insider said, "We want to deliver only orders that come in with stockouts, but the government is preventing us from closing official malls, saying it would cause greater confusion."

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Although the intention is to reduce consumer anxiety, consumers are experiencing greater inconvenience as deliveries continue to be delayed even after ordering.

The urea solution shortage is occurring not only online but also at some gas stations. A gas station official in Jongno-gu, Seoul, said, "Since early this month, the number of drivers trying to purchase has increased, so we limited the sales quantity, but now even that is gone."

Another gas station employee said, "Only a small amount of urea solution is being released, making it difficult to place orders," adding, "Even if we succeed in ordering, we are blocked from ordering for two weeks, so we are unable to secure sufficient quantities."

Urea solution sold at the mart. Photo by Jo Yongjun jun21@

Since the government experienced the ‘urea solution crisis’ in 2021, it has introduced various measures, but confusion seems to be increasing on the ground. As of the 8th, the government announced that the domestic stock of vehicle urea was 4.3 months, an increase of 1.3 months from 3 months on the 30th of last month.

Jang Young-jin, First Vice Minister of the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, visited a gas station in Seoul on the 10th and explained, "Raw material urea is secured for 4.3 months through domestic stock and contracts outside China, and 5,000 tons of contracted Vietnamese urea is scheduled to arrive within next week as planned."

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