approximately two million diesel vehicles mostly cargo trucks are required by government to use the additive according to industry expertsseoul south korea is flying a military oil tanker to australia this week to airlift 27000 litres of urea solution used in diesel vehicles and factories to cut emissions amid a dire shortage threatening to stall commercial transport and industries approximately two million diesel vehicles mostly cargo trucks are required by government to use the additive according to industry experts diesel vehicle drivers have started panic buying urea after chinas customs last month introduced a new export requirement effectively halting exports in order to boost supplies to the domestic market nearly 97 of south koreas urea imports came from china between january and september trade ministry said advt i drove about 70 kilometres to a gas station to just get urea solution for my truck and there were long lines of vehicles and my turn didnt come so i just left empty handed lee byungki 63 told reuters adding he would not be able to continue working from wednesday unless he found some urea the shortage is threatening to halt delivery trucks carrying gasoline and other fuels to local gas stations an official from one of south koreas major refiners said if gas stations do not manage to receive sufficient amount of fuel it could lead to a jump in logistic costs across almost all industries which eventually could burden consumers due to price increases in ordinary consumer goods but the shortage could have an even greater impact on south koreas industrial sector as environmental regulations stipulate that some manufacturers use urea or face penalties the industrial urea inventory which keeps factories running was already low according to a manufacturing industry source what we could do to alleviate the urea shortage for factory operation is to ask the government to relax these environmental regulations the source saidof the 835000 tonnes of urea imported in 2020 347 was for industrial use 98 for cars and the rest was used to make agricultural fertiliser the environment ministry said a major south korean urea supplier said it had been unable to import urea from china since mid october and had slowed production of urea solution as a result advt automakers worried if the urea shortage persists the auto sector which already faces a semiconductor shortage and price hikes in raw materials would find it difficult to get parts from suppliers said lee hangkoo an executive adviser at korea automotive technology institute automakers factories abroad could be forced to cut production if suppliers were unable to deliver parts to south korean ports for shipment he said president moon jaein told a cabinet meeting on tuesday that there was no need for excessive concern and help was on the waythe government has released public sector stocks of urea to areas in urgent need and has said military stocks will also be released as a temporary measure defence minister suh wook on tuesday said in a parliamentary