Among those distributors who settled account in 2013 (January – December), there were 171 companies selling over 1 billion yen per annum including those ranked up into the group which decreased by three companies comparing to the previous year. 　Their total sales of 131.3 billion yen failed to reach the best sales amount of 194.1 billion yen accomplished by 182 companies just before the Lehman Shock, with a difference of 62.8 billion yen.

The industry in 2013 started in a serious stagnation of demand from the beginning January-March period affected by the economic slowdown from the latter half of 2012. Despite the recovered economy in the second half, the total sales amount decreased by 1.5% compared with the last year due to the reduced demand in the industries represented by shipbuilding during the first half of the year.

Regarding the business situation of the gas and welding industry in 2013, a president of medium-sized distributor in the Kansai District said, “The situation was very bad during January to March, but in spring it turned out to be at nearly the same level as the year before last, and the business is letting up gradually.” On the other hand, he pointed out a feeling of recovery during the second half of the year in the Kanto District, saying, “The business condition was very bad up to April and May, but the demand started to rise from sometime in June and the monthly sales recovered with an increase by 6 to 7% in September and 8 to 9% in October over last year.”

As shown in the account settlement of the distributors in 2013, there was a continued sluggish demand for industrial gases. The recovery from the second half was attributed to the response to the demand for equipment and materials, and the margin of profit in the equipment business is so small bringing quite less income despite a large-scale job on a spot basis, compared with the situation about fifty years ago, as he described.

However, owing to the last-minute demand before the tax rise in April, 2014, the recovery of demand level since the second half of 2013 has been enhanced continuously up to even after the spring of 2014. The situation turned out to be reflected clearly on the increasing trend of revenue earned by the gas and welding distributors in the account settlement of F/Y2014 ending March. Six years have passed since the Lehman Shock, and the time of a full recovery seems to be drawing near constantly although there may be some case of recovery already back to the time before the Shock.