Helium: Demand for helium gas recovers as demand for liquid helium for MRIs continues to drop

摘要

Sales of helium in Japan for 2017 remained on par with the previous year at 10.1 million ml Demand for helium gas for applications such as optical fibers and semiconductors turned upward as demand for liquid helium, mainly for MRIs, dropped to end up with essentially no change overall. For helium gas, users have implemented measures to reduce usage based on experiences with tight supply and demand, but an increase in global demand for information communications and semiconductors pushed up helium consumption for optical fibers and semiconductors. Demand was also affected by the slowness of the shift to MRI with cooling systems and new installations of MRIs. New applications of helium have not appeared, and the market in Japan based on traditional applications is bound to remain stagnant.