Bangladesh News

The government has reduced the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) by Tk 150 per cylinder with effect from tomorrow (Friday).

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) yesterday fixed the new price of 12.5 kg cylinders following recommendation from Bangladesh Petroleum Corporation (BPC).

“We have reduced LPG price of each cylinder from Tk 850 to 700,” Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) Chairman Golam Rahman told The Daily Star last night.

The LPG price drop is the second time in three months. In March the government had reduced the price to Tk 850 from Tk 1,000 in March.

The last caretaker government increased the price of per cylinder LPG to TK 1,000 from TK 600 in June 2008.

Sources said LPG sale of the government’s Rupantarita Prakritik Gas Company Limited (RPGCL) dropped significantly with increased price since private companies were selling at Tk 600 to Tk 700 per cylinder.

RPGCL had to waste LPG worth Tk 20 lakh a day due to poor sale and lack of preservation facilities that compelled BPC to submit the recommendation last week, sources added.

The BERC chairman said they had directed the BPC to adopt modern market policy to compete with the private companies. The BPC enjoys only 20 to 25 percent of the LPG market share, he added.

The government has also decided to use tags of price and quantity on cylinders. The BERC has directed BPC to take measurers in this regard within three months.

There are allegations that the dealers oftentimes sell LPG cylinders at more than its original price, as there is no price or quantity tag on the cylinders.