Middle East war has hit plastic makers and potentially spurred syringe hoarding in South Korea – Copyright AFP Patrick T. Fallon
South Korean police said Tuesday they were investigating firms suspected of stockpiling medical syringes, as war in the Middle East hits supplies of an oil-derived component essential to the production of many plastic goods.
The US-Israeli attacks on Iran and the virtual closure of the Strait of Hormuz have disrupted shipments of oil, a liquid essential to making a key ingredient in many medical supplies.
The outage has particularly affected petrochemical sectors in Asia and forced governments to take action, with South Korea imposing a ban this month on stockpiling syringes and needles to protect against shortages.
The Seoul Metropolitan Police Agency told AFP on Tuesday that it “immediately launched an investigation” into four medical device distributors suspected of violating the ban, following a complaint from the food and drug safety ministry.
The agency pledged to strengthen inspections throughout the supply chain to crack down on illegal behavior.
Under the ban, companies must not keep more than 150 percent of the previous year’s average monthly sales volume in syringes and needles for five days or more, or refuse sales without a valid reason.
But some firms appear to be taking advantage of the supply crisis by stockpiling syringes and selling them at higher prices, according to the ministry.
One distributor was found to have held excess inventory of about 130,000 units for more than five days, he said.
According to the presidential office, more than half of South Korea’s oil imports last year came through the Strait of Hormuz.
President Lee Jae Myung vowed in a social media post on Saturday to take the “strongest possible” action against “anti-social behavior that exploits community crises to aggravate them and take advantage of them.”
Lee’s chief of staff announced this month that South Korea had secured an additional 2.1 million tonnes of oil from countries including Saudi Arabia and Oman via non-strait routes.
