18 April 2026, Washington: South Korea’s Finance Minister Koo Yoon-chul on Friday announced that the government plans to release public reserves of urea and urea solution at the end of April, to proactively address supply shortages caused by the Middle East crisis.
Koo Yoon-chul is in Washington, D.C., attending the G20 finance ministers and central bank governors’ meeting, during which he chaired an interagency emergency economic video conference on responding to the Middle East crisis and announced the above measures.
He said that, until tensions between the U.S. and Iran ease, South Korea will, with an “ proactive ” posture, ensure supply-chain stability, and he emphasized that the current Middle East conflict is the biggest risk factor facing the global economy.
“Before there are clear signs the war has ended, we will maintain emergency economic response mechanisms and actively address supply-chain problems and pressures on livelihoods.” Koo Yoon-chul said.
His office said Koo has instructed relevant departments to quickly implement the supplementary budget newly passed by the National Assembly to respond to the Middle East crisis, which includes a KRW 6.1 trillion (about USD 4.12 billion) cash subsidy program to provide payments to the 70% of households with lower incomes to ease the cost-of-living pressure from rising oil prices.
Global Agriculture is an independent international media platform covering agri-business, policy, technology, and sustainability. For editorial collaborations, thought leadership, and strategic communications, write to pr@global-agriculture.com
