A portion of the 18-thousand-700 tons of urea imports expected from China that had been blocked by the state's tightened export restrictions has departed for South Korea.

The government said two-thousand-700 tons of industrial urea left China's Qingdao port earlier in the day, in line with the outcome of a pan-government meeting on Wednesday.

Another 300 tons for vehicles and 600-thousand liters of urea water solution are scheduled to head for South Korea on November 18.

The government said it has also secured an additional five-thousand tons of urea from a Vietnamese company to arrive by early next month. It added it will need to confirm that the compound can be used in vehicles.

Meanwhile, 27-thousand liters of urea water solution from Australia is set to arrive on Thursday by a military plane.

The government expects the incoming volumes combined with domestic reserves to satisfy demand for at least two-and-a-half months.

A key ingredient used in urea water solution in diesel vehicles to reduce emissions, South Korea relies heavily on China for urea, with about two-thirds of its imports coming from the neighboring country.