Back in 1929, we were given the Wall Street Crash. Fast forward 80 years and 2009 gave us the industrial gas crash.
Crash is perhaps too strong a term for the state of the global gases market last year, but after years of successive growth, the decline of 2009 was a shock to the system.
It shouldn’t have been, given the way in which industry suffered throughout virtually all corners of the world. The slump in manufacturing affected industrial gas consumption in particular, as supported by the comments of a number of gasworld’s interviewees last year.
The gases business has typically remained robust in the face of recession or global economic struggles of the past. But our industry is not removed or immune from the rest of the world and in 2009 there was little cushioning the blow, with the global gas business thought to have registered a 7-8% (10% in the worst case scenario) decline over 2008.
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