Business, Featured
- By Anayo Ezugwu
THE price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas, LPG, fondly called cooking gas, is increasing although the product is not scarce.
A market survey conducted by Realnews shows that consumers are paying as high as N4,000 instead of the previous N3,500 to refill 12.5 kilogramme cylinders and N2,000 as against initial N1,700 for six kilogramme cylinders in Lagos.
Ifeanyi Edeh, a retailer at Iba, a suburb of Lagos, said that: “In September last year refilling of 12.5 kilogramme cylinder cost between N3,500 and N3,700, while a six kilogramme cost between N1,700 and N1,800. The product is not scarce but our suppliers just increased the price, so we have to adjust our prices as well to make profits,” he said.
Another retailer at Ajuwon, Lagos, who gave his name as Chinedu, attributed the increase to the fact that more people are using the product. Despite the increase people are still using cooking gas unlike before, when some of them switched to kerosene or charcoal, he said.
“This is the normal price for now unless it increases tomorrow. We expected the price to increase because of the fuel crisis but it didn’t happen. The most important thing for me is that my customers are not complaining, they understand the adjustment in prices,” he said.
Likewise, recent report by the National Bureau of statistics, NBS, has shown that the price of cooking gas in Nigeria increased by at least 13 percent between November 2016 and November 2017. The report titled, Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) price watch, was published on the bureau’s website.
According to NBS, the average price of refilling a five kilogramme cylinder increased from N1,862 in November 2016 to N2,377 in November 2017. In relation to the previous month, October 2017, refilling a five kilogram gas container increased by 0.16 percent from N2,374.
Benue, Osun and Enugu states had the highest average prices for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder, while Kogi, Plateau, and the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, recorded the lowest average prices for the month of November.
The NBS report also showed that the average price for refilling a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder increased by at least 13 percent in November 2017 from the price (N4,016) in 2016. When compared to October 2017 at N4, 561, the cost of refilling a 12.5 kilogram cylinder decreased by 0.41 percent in November.
Bayelsa, Sokoto, Zamfara, and Adamawa states had the highest average prices for refilling a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder with cooking gas, while Osun, Kebbi and Enugu states had the lowest average prices. Based on a zonal analysis, the south-south recorded the highest price average for refilling five kilogramme cylinders with cooking gas at N2,460 and the lowest price average for refilling 12.5 kilogramme cylinders at N4,511.
The south-east had the highest average price for refilling a 12.5 kilogramme cylinder with cooking Gas at N4,581 as well as the second highest average price for refilling a five kilogramme cylinder at N2,415. The North-west had the third highest average price for refilling both the 5 kilogram cylinders and the 12.5 kilogramme cylinders with cooking gas at N2, 406 and N4, 555, respectively.
– Jan. 12, 2018 @ 09:58 GMT /
Tags: Chinedu Ifeanyi Edeh Liquefied Petroleum Gas National Bureau of Statistics Price of Cooking Gas Increases
