12 kg LPG cylinder price cut by Tk 244 for April sales

Staff Reporter :
The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has reduced Tk 244 of 12-kilogram cylinders of liquified petroleum gas (LPG) in retail level.
Now, the 12 kg cylinders of LPG was sold at Tk1178 as the decision has been activated Sunday (April 2).
In a press briefing, BERC newly appointed Chairman Nurul Amin has announced it at the BERC office in the city.
He also informed that the prices of other sizes of LPG cylinders – from 5.5kg to 45kg – will go down rationally.
Last month, the BERC also declined 12 kg LPG cylinders by Tk 76 and fixed to sell at Tk1422 while it was selling at Tk1498.
However, on the sideline of the same press briefing, Md Selim Khan, president of Bangladesh LP Gas Traders Cooperative Limited, a representative body of dealers and distributors in the business, alleged that though the BERC set the new price, the LPG Operators Association of Bangladesh has verbally set the price at operators’ factory gates (wholesale points) price at Tk 1,200 for gas of a 12 kg cylinder.
A retail trader has to add at least Tk 120 to sell the 12 kg cylinder of gas to accommodate his other costs including transportation and staff costs’, he added.
BERC new chairman, however, said that the commission was planning to sit with all stakeholders to address the anomalies in the price fixation.
He also said that the BERC would ask the district administration and law enforcement agencies to check any distortion in the market and in price manipulation.
BERC officials said that the LPG price witnessed a big fall in the local market due to a decline in the prices of Saudi CP (contract price).
Last month, as per the Saudi CP, the LPG price was $733 per metric ton while the current month’s CP was set at $548.5 per MT with an increase by $184.5 per MT, he added.
Bangladeshi LPG operators normally import their products from the Middle-East Market on the basis of Saudi CP.
As per the BERC decision, the price of ‘auto gas’ (LPG used for motor vehicles) also decreased to Tk 54.90 per litre (including VAT) from previous Tk 66.22 per litre, down by Tk 11.32 per litre.
The price of LPG, marketed by state-owned LP Gas Company, will remain the same as it is locally produced with a market share of less than 5 per cent.
The LPG price witnessed the highest price at Tk 1,498 (per 12kg cylinder), in the local market in February this year following the start of the Russia-Ukraine war in February last year.