Australia’s last urea factory is no longer producing the substance and exports of the chemical are banned by China.
Half of the long-haul fleet of trucks on the road have a diesel engine that require urea to run and without trucks moving, essential goods can’t be stacked on shelves.
The National Road Transport Association fears Australia’s supply chain could collapse within eight weeks unless China lifts its export ban on the chemical.
‘What happens if stock isn’t delivered to supermarkets? Or tractors can’t harvest? Or hospitals don’t have backup generators?’
With chemical company Incitec Pivot no longer making urea in Brisbane, truck drivers are now worried about running out of the essential fluid well before Christmas.
With China supplying 80 per cent of the Asia-Pacific’s diesel-grade urea, the National Road Transport Association’s CEO Warren Clark has called on Trade Minister Dan Tehan to ‘find an alternative source’.
AC