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· Posted on
February 21, 2024

Turns out Australia hasn't hit rock bottom yet but it will when we run out of 'AdBlue' in 2022

AdBlue is a fluid that forms part of diesel petrol and helps to reduce emissions produced by trucks.

What's the key learning?

  • Recently, China blocked exports of urea (a key ingredient in AdBlue) to drive down its prices. This means that Australia is now in short supply of AdBlue
  • This stuff is likely to run out in February, and if it does, it means a huge portion of Aussie trucks don't have fuel to run on
  • As more supply chain issues start to arise, Australia may need to look at bringing some manufacturing back on home soil.

Background: AdBlue is a fluid that forms part of diesel petrol and helps to reduce emissions produced by trucks. And it just so happens that the key ingredient in AdBlue (urea) is also used for fertiliser.

What happened: Recently, China blocked exports of urea to drive down prices in its own country's fertiliser. As a by-product of this, Australia is now in short supply of AdBlue. And it's about to get all Mad Max up in here 🚩🚩🚩🚩

What else: This stuff is likely to run out in February, and if it does, it means a huge portion of Aussie trucks don't have anything to run on. It means we could see shortages of food in supermarkets...delays on furniture orders...and potentially an intense slowdown in the Aussie economy.

So what's the key learning?

💡There is a constant trade-off between importing goods from other countries...or manufacturing within your own country.

💡Importing can often be a LOT cheaper (we're talkin' 20 to 40% cheaper)...But it means you become heavily dependent on those countries.

💡Australia imports around 90% of the ingredients in AdBlue, which means when the brakes are slammed, we've got no backup. As more supply issues start to arise, Australia may need to look at bringing some manufacturing back on home soil.

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