Shortage of Urea a Major Block for Agricultural Domain?

Article by: Hari Yellina (Orchard Tech)

Did you know? Diesel trucks and the people who drive them are often described as the lifeblood of Australia. Almost everything bought in this country spends some time on the road. At present, the transport industry is warning of a potential crisis that could see the nation’s diesel trucks come to a complete halt. There is a looming shortage of an important chemical used to remove pollution from the exhaust of diesel trucks. Without it, the trucks can’t run. In most of the types of diesel used in the nation, there is a chemical added to the system called AdBlue. In fact, a lot of the AdBlue, or the chemical that goes into making it, is imported from China. Because the supply has dried up in China, there is a severe shortage in the country.

Reasons for the Shortage

As many know, AdBlu’s key ingredient, urea, is also used to make fertiliser for agriculture. Moreover, the cost of fertiliser in China has internally gone up dramatically, and a large portion of that is urea. Therefore, China is refraining from exporting urea to keep the prices of the local fertiliser down. It may be that there is some sort of trade issue that they have got with other countries around the world. Additionally, Hari Yellina, of Orchard Tech, has concluded that it is not just Australia that is being impacted by this, the whole world is going to be impacted by the lack of this AdBlue chemical.

How Soon Will this Become a Major Crisis?

According to trusted sources, the current supply of AdBlue will last until February. So, the nation needs to come up with an alternative till all of the stocks last. If the problem is still not solved by then, it will become a major crisis. Nevertheless, this is a national supply chain issue and what needs to happen here is bigger than industry, this is a government issue. The government needs to step in to try and find additional supplies of the chemical or different countries that it can be imported from. Another option is to increase the manufacture of AdBlue in Australia, itself.