Praxair, an industrial gas company, has notified its medical and specialty-gas customers in the U.S. that it will be raising prices and fees for several products immediately, except as otherwise permitted by the terms and conditions of customer contracts.
The price increases include a 10 to 20 percent jump in the cost of nitrogen, oxygen, argon, hydrogen and carbon dioxide; a 15 to 30 percent increase for helium and up to a 15 percent increase in facility fees and cylinder rental rates.
According to Praxair, the price increases are “in response to high capacity utilization as well as continued energy, logistics and other operational cost pressures for all products.”
Additionally, Praxair is implementing an argon “demand charge” in response to a growth in need, which has outpaced by-product supply. Argon is a by-product of oxygen production, driven primarily by demand from the steel and chemical industries.
