“Therefore, I do not anticipate significant spot sales this year since we are focused on securing long-term agreements.”

In context

“en what the longer-term effects could be for the Middle East conflict. But so far, it appears activity is relocating to more feedstock-advantaged assets in Americas and, to a lesser extent, APAC. And while we are on this topic, think it is worth providing a brief update on our helium business. Helium was in oversupply for a few years, 2025. But recent events have created acute global shortages. Linde plc sources from a very broad based since supply chain constraints are a recurring challenge. Therefore, we are currently well positioned despite some of the recent outages. Given our business is largely contracted, the priority is to meet existing customer commitments. After that, we still anticipate excess molecules allowing us to pursue new, multiyear contracts with high-quality customers. Therefore, I do not anticipate significant spot sales this year since we are focused on securing long-term agreements. Returning to the end market slide, metals and mining grew 3%. Similar to chemicals and energy, the entire growth is coming from Americas, as both APAC and EMEA are relatively flat. A combination of better industrial activity and protectionist policies from US to Latin America have supported local metals production over imports. Furthermore, we are seeing renewed competitiveness from customers of more gas-intensive integrated blast furnaces when compared to EAS, primarily from constraints associated with cost-effective SCRAM, and electrical infrastructure. The last industrial end market of manufacturing grew 5%. Half of the increase came from aerospace activity in the United States, primarily supporting space vehicle production, testing, and launch. As this venues continues to see strong d”