The account settlement of FY2013 shows a total sales of 782.21 billion yen attained by 53 leading gas distributors each selling over 5 billion yen of industrial gases and welding equipment all over Japan, which was down by 1.3% with two distributors decreased from the previous year.

Like the previous year, 28 companies ranked as top group distributors selling more than 10 billion yen throughout the year, amounting in total to 598.432 billion yen down by 2.2% compared with the previous year.

The second best group companies each selling less than 10 billion yen over 5 billion yen included 25 companies marked a total sales of 183.778 billion yen down by 4.8% with less two companies compared with the previous year. Affected by the stagnated business in the electronics industries like semiconductor or liquid crystal, sales dropped in the business with these industries, while there was a rather steady result seen in the community-based business like the LP gas, medical or nursing-care business all of which showed diversified developments.

The account settlement of the previous year (FY2012) showed a recovery with a total sales of 799.7 billion yen attained by the leading gas distributors each selling over 5 billion yen, which exceeded the figures at the peak time immediately before the Lehman Shock. The 53 companies high-ranked in FY2012 sold a total of 792.168 billion yen only down by 7.63 billion yen in FY2013. This means that the decrease was caused for one reason of less number of the companies selling over 5 billion yen than those in FY2012.

The zero operation of nuclear plants as well as the stagnated business in the semiconductor and electronics industries exerted substantial influences.

Air Water of Hokkaido ranked top among the distributors in 2013 with an annual turnover of 62.62 billion yen.

Distributors’ account settlement from FY2012 to FY2013, on the other hand, showed the serious influences to those four super-distributors who had been boasting their established business with such industries as electronics, under the long-lasting stagnation of the nuclear industries which shut down their operation due to the Great East Japan Earthquake.

In addition to Tomoe Shokai which had been ranked top consecutively since we first edited the distributor ranking in 2006, it seems that the sluggish business of Suzuki Shokan, Toyoko Kagaku and Ueki Corporation exerted influences in their business with the said industries with decreases in income by 10 to 15%.

Although there was a trend of ranking affected the business reorganization or integration of among the affiliated distributors under the policy of the major gas manufacturers like Air Water or Taiyo Nippon Sanso, the management circumstances for the industrial gas distributors have once recovered from the Lehman Shock during these several years but they still suffer from a seesaw struggle in FY2012 and FY2013. In general, the energy business like LPG, medical or other business related to livelihood keeping diversified developments have comparatively come up to attention.