Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) marketing companies on Monday further increased the commodity prices by Rs 5 per kg, Rs 60 per domestic cylinder of 11.8 kg and Rs 240 per commercial cylinder of 45 kg without the approval of Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA).
According to Mohammad Irfan Khokar, Chairman All Pakistan LPG Distributors Association this is the second increase in the LPG prices within three days as on Saturday December 13 the LPG marketing companies increased the commodity prices by Rs 20 per kg, Rs 240 per domestic cylinder and Rs 1,000 per commercial cylinder without any notification by the government.
He appealed the Ministry of Petroleum and OGRA to take strict action against black marketing, illegal profiteering and violation of rules by LPG marketing companies has said that the LPG distributors have rejected this price hike which is unjustified and illegal.
LPG producers have set price at Rs 60,000 per ton, while Saudi Aramco Contract Price (CP) of the commodity is 563$ per ton, he added. He said according to the rules of OGRA and LGP policy, gas should be kept available in the market at Rs 95 per kg, but the marketing companies by creating artificial shortage of the commodity have significantly increased the prices.
Khokhar said international prices remained lower than local prices during the last three months. He said if OGRA failed to take action prices of LPG would further be increased in coming days. He said after the current increase in commodity prices LPG was being sold at Rs 125 per kg against 120 per kg and domestic cylinder at Rs 1,450 against Rs 1,390 in Karachi, Rs 145 per kg against Rs 135 per kg and domestic cylinder at Rs 1,630 per kg against Rs 1,570 in Lahore, Gujranwala, Gujrat, Faisalabad, Sialkot, Hyderabad and Sukkur.
The commodity price has touched Rs 145 per kg against Rs 140 per kg and domestic cylinder was being sold at Rs 1,690 in Mirpur, Multan, Bahawalpur, Dera Ghazi Khan, Kohat, Peshawar and Bannu, Rs 160 per kg against Rs 155 per kg and domestic cylinder at Rs 1,870 in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, and 165 per kg against Rs 160 per kg and domestic cylinder at Rs 1,730 in Murree, Azad Kashmir and FATA.
According to the Petroleum Ministry officials, Pakistan's local LPG production stands at 1,400 tons per day and local LPG marketing companies are purchasing the commodity from producers at around Rs 72,000 per ton including all taxes, while LPG marketing companies are supplying the commodity to retailers at Rs 110,000 per ton which includes their costs also. The trend shows marketing companies are earning Rs 40,000 per ton, whereas retailers are selling it at around Rs 160,000 to Rs 170,000 per ton. This shows that LPG retailers are earning Rs 40 to Rs 50 per kg on the sale of the commodity, while the marketing companies are charging Rs 16 per kg including transposition and other expenditures.
Comments
Comments are closed.