According to the foreign trade statistics, Japan’s import of liquefied carbon dioxide and dry ice increased by about 11% to mark 19,000 tons comparing with the previous year.

The import of dry ice from abroad has been functioning for backup in the summer season of peak demand, but regardless of any season these years, its importance has risen up due to the worsening situation in the material of liquid carbon dioxide.
Last year, an emergency import of liquid carbon dioxide from China and other countries was implemented responding to the long-term shutdown of operation at the raw material supply source in Hokkaido.

Data by country showed that the import from Korea which had been the major supplier dropped sharply to about 9700 tons down to a 51% share of the whole. In Korea the demand for dry ice is also expanding for door-to-door delivery services. In addition, in March 2020, an explosion occurred at Lotte Chemical Corporation Daesan Plant which is one of the supply sources of crude gases. Consequently, the longtime suspension of operation caused more serious feeling of tightened supply.

In place of the shortened supply from Korea, there appeared a dry ice of Chinese origin supplying 7500 tons which showed a close approach to the Korean origin.

In 2021 also, the imported Chinese dry ice for a period from January to March increased to 2100 tons equivalent to 5 times the Korean origin of 400 tons. It seems that some distributors in the domestic liquid carbon dioxide and dry ice market have positioned China as the main supplier instead of Korea for the source of procurement of this year