Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) price has touched Rs 160 per kg with the advent of winter, while LPG marketing companies are supplying the commodity at Rs 120 per kg to retailers, Business Recorder has observed. The LPG is mainly used as an alternative fuel for cooking and heating in the rural areas as well as in urban areas following serious natural gas shortage. Moreover, it also used in the Rickshaws as a replacement of petrol and CNG. The government is also trying to promote the use of LPG in the vehicles as a replacement of CNG.
Bilal Jebar, spokesman to LPG marketing companies said that in winter commodity demand would increase to 2,000 per day from the current demand of 1,600 per day.
He said that marketing companies were trying to meet the increasing demand of the commodity through timely import. He said that retailers were earning high profit by overcharging the masses as they are selling the commodity at Rs 160 per kg against Rs 130 to Rs 140 per kg.
Pakistan's LPG demand at present stands at 1,600 ton per day, of which 1,300 tons is locally produced while the rest is being met through import.
According to market sources, LPG and other fuel prices are linked with Saudi Aramco prices in Pakistan. The Saudi Aramco contract price of the commodity with the start of November has touched $900 per ton from $840 per ton, while local producers have not matched the local prices with the Saudi Aramco prices and retained at $840 per ton on the instruction of the federal government. Local production stands at 1,300 tons per day, while local LPG marketing companies are purchasing the commodity from producers at Rs 104,000 per ton including all taxes, LPG marketing companies are supplying the commodity to retailers at Rs 120,000 per ton while retailers are selling at around Rs 160,000 per ton. This shows that LPG retailers are earning Rs 40 on per kg, while marketing companies are charging Rs 16 per kg including transposition and other expenditure.
Mian Mohammad Khalid, a commodity dealer in Islamabad, commenting on the increasing prices of LPG said that in coming days it would further increase due to intensifying winter and high demand. He said that at present LPG in hilly areas including Murree, Muzafarabad, Gilgit-Baltsitan, Mansehra, Fata and Balakot is being sold at Rs 160-170 per kg against Rs 155 per kg and Rs 1600 per domestic cylinder of 11.8 kg against Rs 1450.
Similarly, the notified LPG price for the plains including Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sargodha, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Rahimyar Khan, Multan, Attock Dera Ismail Khan and Peshawar are hovering at Rs 130 per kg against Rs120 per kg.
But contrary to the announcements of the LPG marketing companies and Distributors, Business Recorder has observed that the commodity is being sold at Rs 160 per kg in twin cities of Rawalpindi/Islamabad.
Similarly, LPG in other cities like Attock, Peshawar, Dera Ismail Khan, Kohat, Sukkur, Rahimyar Khan and Sadiqabad is available to the consumers at Rs 150-165 per kg.
The retail price of LPG in Gujranwala, Jhang, Sargodha, Sahiwal, Multan, and Gujrat is Rs155 per kg.
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