With effect from April 1, Showa Denko Gas Products (President: Koichi Nishimura) will raise its selling prices of LCO2 (liquefied carbon dioxide) and dry ice by 15%, applicable to those to be delivered by tank trucks and cylinders.

As we have so far reported from time to time, the oil refineries of the domestic CO2 source and ammonium plants are now suffering a chronicle shortage in the supply of crude gas on account of the declining demand of gasoline and the weakening competitive power.

The company’s main CO2 plant is located in Kawasaki, Kanagawa and also regionally located plants. However, affected by the shutdown of CO2 sources one after another, the crude material has been procured by tank trucks from the remote plants which have an available capacity of supply. Furthermore, in order to respond to the peak demand for dry ice, the company imported dry ice from abroad to maintain a stable supply. Under these circumstances, however, since the purification capacity of oil refinery will be cut by 10% following the Sophisticated Methods of Energy Supply Structures, there still remain high possibilities of further loss of source. So, the company has decided to raise the prices this time foreseeing more supply-demand tightness of LCO2 and dry ice.

In the meantime, as for the revision of price of LCO2, Air Water Carbonic Inc. implemented last April and it was followed by Nippon Ekitan’s announcement to raise the price effective from April this year. It seems to be inevitable to revise the price of LCO2 to keep a stable supply.