China’s temporary export ban on helium| Explained
The story so far: On July 10, the Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs, China, has temporarily but immediately banned helium exports from
The story so far: On July 10, the Ministry of Commerce and General Administration of Customs, China, has temporarily but immediately banned helium exports from the country. As of 4.30 pm IST on July 10, Beijing had not published any other information as to why it took this step now or its scope. Is China a major helium producer? China imports more than 80% of its helium needs but produces only around 1.6% of the world’s helium. The export ban follows an extended period of supply strained by Russia’s export restrictions — where the Prime Minister needs to sign off on shipments through 2027 — and supply risks tied to heightened tensions in West Asia. The world’s major helium producers are the U.S. (meeting 43% of total supply), followed by Qatar, Russia, Canada, and Algeria. In 2024, the U.S. privatised its Federal Helium Reserve and, selling its assets to the Messer Group and no longer buffering shocks such as those due to the U.S.-Iran conflict. The next year, the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform launched an investigation into Messer’s Chinese interests, stoking the risk of tit-for-tat measures. Which China’s latest export ban could be. After the U.S., Qatar has been meeting 33% of the demand, especially in Asia. After the conflict with Iran escalated, as medical chemist and Science columnist Derek Lowe put it, “one-third of global helium production is now literally bottled up behind the Strait of Hormuz, a much higher percentage than world oil production [where the situation is bad enough already].” In this light, China’s new export restriction could preserve the country’s helium supply for its domestic chip manufacturers and its medical sector.
How is helium obtained? Helium is the second-lightest element, after hydrogen, and is not manufactured. It is a non-renewable resource generated deep in the earth’s crust, where the radioactive decay of uranium and thorium atoms emits alpha particles, which capture electrons to form helium atoms. Over millions of years, this helium migrates into the same reservoirs of natural gas, and they are extracted together. This said, natural gas is not processed to isolate the helium from it until the latter makes up at least 0.3% by volume. But once it does, the gas is isolated using the fact that it has a different boiling point. Some operators also recover helium from LNG plants and from the air but these quantities are too low to matter to the global demand. Helium for commercial use is usually at least 99.997% pure. What is helium used for? Helium has an extremely low boiling point — negative 269°C — and does not participate easily in chemical reactions. These are good properties for a coolant that needs to cool the magnets in MRI machines, the silicon wafers in the semiconductor fabricating industry, and, increasingly, some of the devices used in quantum computers. Its small atoms mean the gas escapes easily through gaps that might be too small for oxygen or nitrogen atoms — so engineers use helium as a leak-detector.
The BriefWire