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China’s commerce ministry and its customs agency said in a brief
statement that they are imposing a temporary export ban on
helium, effective immediately, in accordance with the relevant
provisions of the Foreign Trade Law of the People’s Republic of
China.
They did not elaborate further on the reasons.
Helium is crucial for semiconductor manufacturing, and is also
used in the medical sector such as in the cooling of MRI
machines. Since the Iran war began in late February, global
helium supply has been disrupted and prices have gone up
substantially.
China only produces about 15% or less of its own helium,
importing much of it from Qatar, which generates roughly
one-third of the world’s supply, according to estimates cited in
a research note by the consultancy Trivium China.
China is looking to protect its industries as global supply of
helium has become “very tight,” said Gary Ng, a senior economist
at the French bank Natixis.
“Such an export control measure is intended to protect the local
industry, especially as it is critical to chipmaking,” he said.
It is imposing the measure likely more to secure supply for
local usage than for political reasons, Ng said.
The move comes at a time when China is stepping up its
self-sufficiency capabilities in chipmaking and artificial
intelligence as its technology race with the U.S heats up.
It is not known when global helium supply will return to normal,
said Cameron Johnson, a senior partner at Shanghai-based
consultancy Tidalwave Solutions.
“The fact that they (China) are now banning exports basically
tells me that they know there’s simply not enough helium to do
what they need to do,” Johnson said.
However, as China is a relatively small exporter of helium, “the
move may not have a significant global impact,” Ng added,
although there may still be some pressure on global supply due
to the current supply shock.
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