Taiwan Fertilizer considers importing urea from Middle East amid Chinese export irregularity

中國出口不順，台灣化肥考慮從中東進口尿素

Export problems in China causing strain on anti-emissions chemical’s supply chain, prices


TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — Taiwan Fertilizer Co said on Monday (Nov. 8) that the company will consider importing urea, which is used in fertilizers, from the Middle East or Southeast Asia in response to China’s recent restrictions on the export of the organic compound, CNA reported.

The irregularity in China’s urea exports has caused a strain on the compound’s supply chain and a rise in cost. Under the circumstances, South Korea has decided to import the compound from Australia to meet an urgent need, the report said.

Taiwan Fertilizer management told CNA in a telephone interview that even though the company has an investment in the Al-Jubail Fertilizer Company in Saudi Arabia, which produces 600,000 tons of urea annually, high transportation costs have prevented the company from shipping the compound back to Taiwan for sale.

As the company’s Taiwan plant has stopped manufacturing the compound, all fertilizer urea for domestic use has been imported from China, the company said.

According to industry analysis, the price of urea was a little more than US$200 (NT$5,549) per ton last year. However, since the beginning of this year, the prices have steadily gone up, with quoted prices per ton reaching US$700-800 on Oct. 20, US$730-800 on Oct. 28, and US$740-830 on Nov. 4, the report said.

Industry insiders conjectured that China’s enforcement of “a dual control system of total energy consumption and energy intensity” may have caused a reduction or limitation on urea production, resulting in the country’s inability to export the compound normally, per CNA.