LPG price set at Tk 1,728 after Tk 387 hike

The Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) has increased the price of 12 kg LPG by Tk 387 to Tk 1,728 for the month of April. At the same time, the price of autogas has been increased from Tk 61.83 to Tk 79.77 per liter.

Chairman Jalal Ahmed announced the new price at a press conference in the conference room of BERC on Thursday (April 2).

Although the price announced by BERC has not been implemented for the last five months, it has been seen in the market that there is unprecedented chaos in the LPG sector due to sellers charging whatever price they want. Although the price was Tk 1,341 in March, it is being sold in the market for Tk 1,800-2,000.

Various facilities have been provided to importers to cope with the increasing demand for the product and the impact of the crisis. Permission to open LC, increase in import limit, tax exemption and freight charge (ship fare) have been increased from $108 to $121 per ton.

The import ceiling of five major LPG companies has been significantly increased:

Yumna Spacetech: 1.8 lakh tonnes to 6.5 lakh tonnes

Delta LPG: 20 thousand tonnes to 80 thousand tonnes

Omera Petroleum Limited: 3 lakh tonnes to 5 lakh tonnes

Meghna LPG: 2.5 lakh tonnes to 4.6 lakh tonnes

United Group's iGas: 1 lakh tonnes to 3 lakh tonnes

The price of LPG cannot be brought to the brink. Even though the price has been increased in the market, the Consumer Affairs Department is not able to effectively monitor it. The game of blaming the price increase is going on.

When the base price of LPG was announced for the first time on April 12, 2021, it was said that the price would be adjusted according to the fluctuations in the Saudi market. Since then, BERC has been determining the price every month.