LPG prices rise by Rs5

Further decline in demand feared.

KARACHI:

Rising political tensions in the Middle East have driven up prices of imported liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by five rupees per kg.

LPG Saudi Aramco contracts for delivery in April have gone up by $37 to $890 per ton. As a result, domestic prices of imported LPG have gone up by Rs3,750 to Rs89,000 per ton, or by Rs44.25 per 11kg cylinder.

However, prices of locally manufactured LPG have not been revised as yet. All Pakistan LPG Dealers Association Chairman Abdul Hadi Khan said that “prices of locally produced LPG will be reviewed on April 3.”

Khan explained that the price increase has been driven by consistently rising prices of two key inputs of LPG - propane and butane. He called on stakeholders to refrain from raising domestic fuel prices, highlighting that “successive increases in the price of LPG have driven away consumers to the point where distributors are already sitting on unsold reserves.”

The representative of LPG dealers called for lowering prices of domestic LPG to provide a cheap alternative for consumers in the wake of rising prices of petroleum and other fuels.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 1^st, 2011.