According to the statistics of the Japan Industrial and Medical Gases Association (JIMGA) about the sales of industrial gases in the year of 2018, oxygen sold 1.617 billion cubic meter up 0.7%, nitrogen 4.362 billion up 1.0%, argon 0.21 billion up 4.6% respectively over last year and acetylene sold 9424 tons in terms of weight which was down 2.3% comparing with last year.

Nitrogen and argon increased during two consecutive years. Although liquid nitrogen slightly decreased, the piping supply of nitrogen remained well in operation at a high rate.

Acetylene, on the other hand, moved flat or decreased a little over all regions. Oxygen moved at a declining pace except for some areas. Especially liquid oxygen decreased by 4.0% comparing with last year. It shows shrinkage in the demand for medical and other applications.

Liquid carbon dioxide of which tight supply had been chronic for these several years turned out to be in an increasing trend in October and November despite the decreased demand in the summer season of peak time. Throughout the year an increase by 1.0% was attained.

On the other hand, there was a decrease by 4.7% in the import of dry ice used for backup. Particularly the Korean source of the largest portion decreased by 6.8%. The import of helium running short on the world-wide scale decreased by 3.8%, and the serious trend of shortage seems to go on this year too.