From the Helium VS website.25 Jun 2021 14:10
"Following the wind down of the US strategic reserve and increased demand due to developments in manufacturing, medical imaging and scientific research, the price for helium has surged by approximately 500 percent in the past 15 years. As new reserves are found and brought into production around the world, the current tightness of the market may ease, but with demand continuing to grow, helium supply is likely to remain critical.
Just two countries produce around 85% of the world’s helium — the USA and Qatar. Such limited supply can seriously destabilise markets (especially in volatile regions) and badly affect customers.
For most of its supply history, the US government has smoothed the market within its strategic reserve facility which, at its peak, held 30 billion cubic feet of helium – enough to meet about 15 years of global demand at that time. However, the US strategic reserve managed by the US Bureau of Land Management (BLM) is winding down and, by law, it will completely close to international sales by October 2021, further underpinning the opportunity for pure play sources of helium production."
heliumvs.com