OREANDA-NEWS  China tripled its imports of inert gases from Russia last year, to $115.7 million, RIA Novosti estimated, according to Chinese customs.

This indicator has become the highest since 2015, when customs data is available. No earlier statistics are provided.

Inert gases are used in gas and gas-arc welding in metallurgy, construction, automotive industry, mechanical engineering and so on. In addition, they are needed to produce ultrapure metals.

China imported the most Russian helium, amounting to 111.5 million dollars. In addition, he bought selenium for $ 2.3 million, as well as boron and tellurium for $ 1.9 million.
By the end of the year, Russia became the fourth largest importer of inert gases to China. The top five also included Germany (574.6 million dollars), Qatar (271 million), Malaysia (146.7 million) and the United States (91.9 million).