The healthcare market for the industrial gas industry is characterized by gas producers and distributors that supply oxygen, nitrous oxide, anesthesia gases, special mixtures, and related services. An array of new gases, related equipment, and healthcare technologies, including a broadening of the fast growing respiratory therapy market, makes this an expanding market segment for our industry.
The shrinking of the global economy in 2009 affected all market sectors and the industrial gas industry’s worldwide medical business was no exception, registering a decline in revenues — the first since we have been writing these reports. Healthcare, however, is fairly resistant to economic swings as it is driven by a basic human need — medical care — and declines were primarily related to currency translation and slightly lower volumes.
Last year we examined the markets for gases and related equipment, including those that are broadening our industry’s penetration into the healthcare segment. (See “The Healthcare Market Report,” and “Keeping It Cold in a Hot Market,” CGI, November 2009.) In this report, we update readers on how those markets faired in the global economic recession, and look at signs of life as the recovery progresses in 2010. We also have a companion article on “New and Innovative Equipment for Medical Markets” on p. 34.
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