Previously, the General Administration of Customs of China and the Ministry of Commerce jointly announced export controls on rare metal elements such as germanium and gallium, and later announced export controls on "three high" graphite materials. This has attracted widespread attention from the international community, and many industries in many countries, including the United States, South Korea, and the European Union, have been affected by China's export controls on germanium, gallium, and graphite materials.
In fact, this is a series of measures taken by China to ensure the development of relevant domestic industrial chains, technological development and mineral reserves, and it is not aimed at any country.
South Korea has less reserves of these strategic rare metals and key materials in the country, coupled with the fields that are greatly affected by graphite, germanium, gallium and other materials, and rare technologies such as semiconductors and power batteries, which are all pillar industries of South Korea, so South Korea can be said to be very uncomfortable.
Judging from the data released by South Korea at that time, after China announced the restriction on the export of germanium and gallium, South Korea's germanium and gallium reserves at that time were only enough for 40 days, and the reserves of graphite materials were about the same. Even at that time, South Korea ** said: South Korea has become "cannon fodder" in Sino-US competition.
What people did not expect was that China suddenly announced the suspension of the customs clearance process for AdBlue solution exported to South Korea. At present, there is no accurate news about the duration of the restriction on the export of AdBlue solution and the resumption of the reinstatement. However, South Korea has confirmed to China from various channels that China's restriction on the export of AdBlue solution is mainly to ensure domestic use.
In fact, South Korea is highly dependent on Chinese AdBlue solutions, with 967% of the industrial urea is imported from China, and it can be said that it is completely dependent on Chinese shipments to ensure domestic use in South Korea. It is precisely for this reason that after China suddenly suspended the export of AdBlue solution to South Korea, South Korea's related industries have fallen into anxiety.
Judging from South Korea's current public data, its domestic urea solution stock is only enough to support South Korea's use for three months, which basically means that if China restricts the export of urea solution for more than three months, then South Korea's domestic related industries will basically fall into a halt.
This is not the first time that China has restricted the export of AdBlue solution, which was suspended two years ago, when South Korea's logistics were directly paralyzed. It is precisely because of this experience that the Korean industry is so anxious.
According to relevant data, China is the world's largest producer and exporter of urea, accounting for the vast majority of the total global urea shipments. South Korea's demand for urea is extremely high, and it is difficult for urea exported from other countries to meet South Korea's demand, which can only delay the shortage of urea in South Korea and cannot fill the gap.
In fact, although the production process and technical level of urea are not high, many countries have built relevant industrial chains. But in fact, the construction of the industrial chain requires a large amount of capital investment, and various factors such as production costs, shipments, and market demand must be considered.
If the level of technology or manufacturing equipment is not high enough, then the cost of self-built industrial chain production may not be more cost-effective than direct imports from China. With a complete industrial chain, perfect infrastructure construction, and low labor force, China has a huge influence in urea.
To put it bluntly, it is natural for other countries to manufacture their own, but it is difficult to return to the cost in a short period of time when they invest in technology research and development and industrial chain construction, let alone want to compete with China in the international market.
In fact, not only in urea, but also in the fields of germanium, gallium, graphite, etc., if the United States, the European Union and other countries are willing to invest costs, it is not particularly difficult to achieve a certain degree of domestic substitution, but it is limited by technology and industrial chain, it is difficult to achieve or an imbalance in the ratio of input and output.
Judging from South Korea's recent performance, South Korea is obviously in a hurry, first South Korea asked China through multiple channels about the reasons for the interruption of urea supply and the time to resume shipments, and then South Korea proposed to the relevant Chinese departments to activate the **chain dialogue channel, and wanted to carry out consultation and dialogue with China's relevant **chain, in order to reply to the ** urea as soon as possible.
Not only that, within 24 hours after China cut off the supply of urea to South Korea, South Korea's ** Yoon Suk-yeol directly replaced the heads of 6 departments, launching a "big reshuffle" in South Korea. The heads of six ministries, including the Prime Minister of Economy and Minister of Planning, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Tourism, and the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agriculture, Food Products, and Food, have been replaced.
Some industry insiders said: Before the end of the year, Yoon Suk-yeol is likely to "shuffle" the cabinet again, which may be because Yoon Suk-yeol has been declining in the polls since he took office, and the support rate of cabinet members has also been decreasing, and it may be that he wants to save his support before next year's congressional election through a "cabinet change".
Postscript:
China has recently suspended the shipment of urea to South Korea, which has caused concern in the South Korean industry. Although the production technology and manufacturing level of urea is not high, the cost of related industrial chain construction is not low, and the vast majority of international urea exports come from the Chinese market.
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