The regulator reduced the retail prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by 7.79 per cent for May trading, to a little relief for an umpteen number of consumers who have to depend on this costly fuel.
Now the private operators will have to sell a 12-kilogram cylinder of the cooking fuel at Tk 1335, down from Tk 1439 of April, according to the monthly price adjustment announced Thursday by Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) chairman Md Abdul Jalil.
The commission adjusted the LPG rates down in keeping with the Saudi Aramco contract price (CP) of April 2022 as the benchmark for fixing LPG price on the domestic market, says the announcement
It also considered fluctuations in foreign-currency value and change in the value-added tax (VAT) amount in re-fixing the domestic LPG prices.
The Saudi Aramco CP price of propane is US$850 per tonne and butane $860 per tonne for May trading.
The BERC has considered the propane and butane mixture at the ratio of 35:65 to get the average price at $856.50 per tonne in the pricing arithmetics.
Saudi Aramco CP prices of propane and butane in April were US$940 per tonne and $960 per tonne respectively.
The BERC, of late, fixes the LPG prices for private operators within the first week of every month in tune with the international price indices, which were fuelled up by disruption for war and sanctions from a rock bottom during the corona invasion across the planet.
"The new prices will take immediate effect, from May 5, 2022," said the BERC chairman.
Private sector can sell LPG through different sizes of cylinders, like 5.5 kg, 12.5kg, 15kg, 16kg, 18kg, 20kg, 22kg, 25kg, 30kg, 35 kg, and 45kg to consumers at proportionately higher pricest, the announcement says.
Price for LPG to be supplied through reticulated system, or centralized storage system, will be Tk 108.20 per kg, including VAT.
Retail price of auto gas, the LPG used in vehicles, for May is also slashed to Tk 62.21 per litre, inclusive of VAT, compared to Tk 67.02 per litre of April.
The price of state-owned LP Gas company's LPG has been kept unchanged at Tk 591 for 12.5 kg LPG.
Currently 27 LPG operators are doing the fuel business although some 58 got received licences.
Some 20 operators import around 1.10 million tonnes of LPG the from international market, which accounts for 98 per cent of the country's total requirement of the cooking gas, while seven are satellite operators.
There are 20 LPG terminals across the country with a reserve capacity of around 100,000 tonnes in total.
Some 35 million LPG cylinders are being used by the LPG businesses in the country.
A total of 200 road tankers, 5,000 trucks and 21 cargoes are involved with the LPG freight business across the country.
