I hadn’t realised that Helium supplies come from natural gas supplies in Western America supplying 80% of world needs. Extracting Helium from the atmosphere is 10,000 more expensive.

America has built up big supplies over the years and has decided to eliminate it strategic stock by 2015. So currently a ‘fire sale’ is taking place making Helium prices very low.

Once these stocks have gone the real underlying prices have been suggested will be 10,000 times higher!

Helium is a key in making fibre optics and super cooled magnets used in things like MRI scanners.

So no more Helium balloons in my family. The current pricing is really not showing how precious this element is to our society.