The acceleration of Russian helium into China continues, as China reported record volumes from Russia in Mar '24 of 31.2mmcf (+12% m/m and +27% vs the last four months). Russian volumes began increasing in Oct '23 with 7mmcf imported after Gazprom's Amur plant started commercial sales and have risen ~4x since. Russian pricing into China is undercutting Qatar and the US, maintaining YTD to Mar '24 pricing averaging US$406/mcf, which is about 25% lower than the average pricing from all other regions (YTD US$524/mcf). Based on the volumes from the last few months, we see that Qatari volumes are dropping with a YTD average of 46mmcf, which is down 25% y/y, indicating that Russian volumes are displacing Qatari volumes. US imports have also dropped significantly over the last few months; YTD to Mar'24 averaging 5mmcf/m (-41% y/y).
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