The Gas Review reports that the highest ever gases price revision is underway in Japan, as rises in the economy continue and the industrial gases industry cannot absorb costs through its own efforts any longer.
Continually increasing crude oil prices and soaring costs of raw materials have pushed the industry towards major price corrections this spring, with many already implemented and price increases for most gases including oxygen, nitrogen, argon, helium, carbon dioxide, hydrogen, acetylene and specialty gases called for.
Proposed price increases are attributable to 4 key factors, though a fifth factor is also up for consideration. The soaring price of crude oil, the skyrocketing in the price of raw materials, the rise in manufacturing and transportation costs, and the increase in capital investment are all cited as the main reasons for the price revision, while the fifth factor is seen as supply shortages and tightening gas supplies. Certain gas resources are becoming rare including reliance on imports such as xenon and helium, with xenon in particular increasingly used in large quantities in the fabrication of PDP televisions and semiconductors in Japan, Korea and Taiwan.
Early estimations suggest that the price hike differs according to the source of supply, but a general increase of 2-6 folds that of the market price last year is expected.
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