UREA IMPORTS FROM CHINA TO RESUME

[Anchor Lead]

Import of urea from China will likely resume soon. China has begun proceedings to export 18700 tons of urea to Korea including 10300 tons of urea for vehicles.

[Pkg]

The first batch of urea used in DEF imported from China is 300 tons. That's enough to produce 600,000 liters of urea water solution. The material is expected to be shipped from China on Nov. 18 and arrive in South Korea on Nov. 21. The government has been notified by China that the remaining 10,000 tons of urea for vehicles and some 8,000 tons for industrial use will also be shipped soon. Export inspection has been requested for about 7,100 tons of the exported amount. It takes two weeks to complete inspections. Even if the request is submitted earlier, the material will only arrive in Korea by the end of November or early next month. Meanwhile, 2,700 tons of urea for industrial use that Korea had purchased prior to the export restrictions was shipped from Qingdao on Wednesday.

[Soundbite] Hong Nam-ki(Minister of Economy and Finance) : "We're waiting for China to ship 20,000 tons of urea.　We have reached an agreement and the problem will be solved soon.　The amount is large enough to address the immediate shortage."

In early December, 5,000 tons of urea will arrive from Vietnam in addition to 200 tons for vehicles purchased earlier. On Thursday, 30 tons of urea water solution is to be brought from Australia by military aircraft. It will be supplied to private emergency vehicles first. On Thursday afternoon, 220 tons of urea water solution from military reserves was supplied to gas stations near five major ports nationwide. The government has found the private sector currently has some 17,000 tons of urea for vehicles -- enough to be used for one month. Some 5800 tons of the material will go on sale on Friday.