Supply chain issues keep on deflating industry after industry. With the newest helium shortage, prices for some users have gone up nearly 40 per cent.
A worldwide shortage of the natural gas is the result of a myriad of issues happening around the globe. From plants in Texas springing leaks, to the global embargo on Russian goods, it seems the second most common element in the universe isn't so common anymore.
Ana Maria Arias is the owner of Majestic Balloons Ca. in Cambridge and says she has had to move away from recommending helium balloons to clients.
“I recommended that my clients will use more air filled balloons, because it will be cheaper for them and I only have so much helium left,” said Arias.
She still has a small reserve of the gas, but when she runs out, her prices could be increased by almost 40 per cent from suppliers.
“It seems like everyone is running out of helium, I’ve had to raise my prices. Everything is increased because the gas is super expensive at the moment,” said Arias.
Other larger companies still have access to fairly priced helium. Party City on Hespeler Road in Cambridge is stocked and filling up balloons without price changes.
“We have a good deal with our supplier, so we aren’t being affected by this shortage,” said Ursula Holzhauser, manager for Party City.
According to Holzhauser, Party City is one of the few places in the city that can fill up single balloons for customers. She said they've recently seen an influx of people bringing in balloons purchased elsewhere, asking if they can be filled with helium.
Although there will always be customers who want the helium filled balloon arrangements, Arias thinks that moving to more air filled balloons is not only going to save her and her clients money, but will also have a positive impact on the environment.
“These balloons we use are biodegradable, but they take years and years,” she said. “A lot of people don’t know how to take care of helium balloons. They want to release like 50 balloons in the air, but this is really dangerous. They could get caught in hydro lines and trees and take forever to break down.”
Birthday parties and celebrations are not the only industry that uses this precious gas. Helium is used in many medical applications as well such as treatment for conditions like asthma and emphysema. Liquid helium is also used to cool magnets, MRI scanners and NMR spectrometers.
According to Cambridge Memorial Hospital, they no longer use helium in their machines and have switched to an alternative cooling solution.
“I just hope everything is going to get fixed and everything's going to come back to normal with helium, because if this situation continues we're going to have a big problem,” said Arias.
