Australian chemical manufacturers capable of producing AdBlue – a urea-based additive used in diesel vehicles to reduce the expulsion of dangerous emissions – are scrambling to boost production, as an international shortage threatens to slam the brakes on local trucking and logistical industries.

Until last month China exported approximately 80 per cent the world’s refined urea, however recent market conditions have prompted the nation to redirect supply towards domestic agriculture (the chemical is widely used in synthetic fertilisers).

Brisbane-based company Incitec Pivot currently operates the sole local plant manufacturing AdBlue from raw materials, and this facility currently accounts for approximately 10 per cent of Australian AdBlue demand.