Badrul Ahsan :Both sales and prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) increased significantly in the last couple of months mainly for higher demand from households in the cities amid severe supply disruptions of piped gas.Sources in private LPG-bottling plants said that the sales of the bottled gas grew more than 25 to 30 percent in December 2015 to February 15, 2016.This is the highest rate of growth in this season against its year-on-year average growth of around 12 per cent.The households in Dhaka, Chittagong and Narayanganj faced severe cooking problem for sudden short supply of piped gas during the prime time of winter. The situation now has improved somewhat.Amid the gas crunch, the retail prices of the LPG witnessed rise during the period on the back of a sudden surge in demand for the substitute. The average price of a 12 kg bottle was Tk 1,100 or above.But the bottling firms said that they had reduced the wholesale prices last month on the back of its falling prices in the international market.LPG-bottling companies said they had cut prices by Tk 40 to Tk 50 on each 12-kilogram bottle to Tk 800 on average in January.But many consumers said, even the Tk 800 at the distribution level is also high considering international market of the fuel.According to the industry insiders, more than 1.2 million bottles of LPG were sold in January across the country, up over 30 per cent than that of December 2015. “The sales shot up significantly, mostly of 12-kilogram variety mostly consumed at households,” Md Feroz, General Manger (sales and marketing) of BM Energy, told The New Nation on Monday.He said, the demand for LPG usually rises during the winter, but this time grew it faster following acute gas crisis in many cities. Ishtiaq Ahmed, Chief Executive Officer of Omera, said that not only in the winter, the demand for LPG is growing each month.He found this year as “completely exceptional, considering its abnormal sales”.Admitting its higher prices at retail levels, he said the retailers have been cashing in on absence of MRP (maximum retail price) tags on bottles.”We cannot fix retail prices as its prices in the international market fluctuate each month,” the business executive said.Currently, the annual demand for the LPG is around 120,000 tonnes in the country, with the growth hovering around 12 per cent on average, according to senior executives of the existing market players.Even few months before, supply and demand were more or less equal. BPC’s supply was around 20,000 tonnes by using a part of crude oil at its Chittagong plant.The six other local players, with market leader Bashudhara, import the finished product and bottle into the country.
