Why the Price of Cooking Gas is Increasing

For some time now there has been a continual surge in the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) popularly known as cooking gas in Nigeria. Across the country, LPG has recorded an unprecedented increase in price by about 240 percent.

Data obtained from the website of the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that in August, the average price for refilling a 5kg gas cylinder for LPG was N2,215. It rose to N2,397 in September. The price of refilling 12.5kg cylinder also increased from N4,514 in August to N6,164 in September.

The data also showed variation in the prices of the commodity in different states. The data revealed that Cross Rivers ad and Anambra selling 12.5kg at N6,897 and N6,779 respectively were the two states with the highest average price for September.

The two states with the lowest average price for September are Borno and Osun states, the product sold at N5,100 and N5,006, respectively. A visit to a few LPG stations on Tuesday in Ibadan, Oyo state capital reveals that the prices of LPG goes for between N3,050 and N3,200 for 5kg. For 12kg, it ranges between N7,150 to N7,300.

Available information has therefore revealed that the surge in price is a result of the fact that importers of the product have stopped importing it.

According to the Executive Secretary of Nigeria Association of Liquefied Petroleum gas Marketers, Mr Essien, importers stopped importing the commodity because of the introduction of custom duty and the value-added tax now imposed on imported LPG. He claimed that there are other issues and that as long as the marketers are not importing the commodity, local supply will continue to suffer a severe drop.

It is to be noted that over 60 percent of LPG used in the country is imported, less than 40 percent is locally produced. Therefore a halt in import implies that the country is left with less than 40 percent produced locally.

“The NLNG supplies LPG to terminals and these terminals sell to the marketers and at times in a day the price can go up by about three times. NLNG is now selling in the region of N11m per 20 metric tones truck with a cumulative daily increase of N300,000 to N500,000 without the imposition of VAT and custom duties,” he said in an interview with Punch.

NLNG stands for Nigeria Liquefied and Natural Gas. It is an independent incorporated joint venture that harnesses Nigeria’s vast Natural Gas (LNG) and Natural gas Liquids (NGLs) for export. Last week’s Tuesday, the company announced that it had decided to cut cooking gas exports to meet domestic demand. Despite this, the price of LNG has continued to increase.