Cooking gas prices to rise next week, says marketers

Consumers of liquified natural gas, also known as cooking gas, have been told to brace up for tougher times ahead as marketers project a price hike of the commodity starting from next week, fuelled by rising international prices, high tax rates and prices of vessels, forex scarcity, and naira devaluation.

Olatunbosun Oladapo,president of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM), made this known recently, lamenting that  international prices have increased, prices of vessels have risen, taxes are high, but consumers are not earning more.

Oladapo described the imminent price increment as unfortunate,noting that consumers, middlemen, and retailers are feeling the impact because business is now on the low side amid a decline in purchasing power.

According to him, the situation is very unfortunate because prices are going higher and Nigerian consumers are passing through very difficult times because they can no longer afford gas.He added that consumers are  beginning to depend on firewood, charcoal, and sawdust for cooking.

Speaking on how taxation in the gas sector has impacted businesses, he said,  “You can imagine that for every 1kg of gas priced at N700, tax would take way N3.50. How much is left in such a business?”

The president of the gas marketers called on the government to alleviate the suffering of the masses by providing palliatives, reducing taxes and levies.

He also urged marketers who had the opportunity to buy products locally to fix prices with “consumers’ sympathy” in mind.

Analysts attribute vessel scarcity in the international market to the difficulties liner companies in h deploying capacity in a market with faltering demand from continued macroeconomic pressures. They have also raised concerns that this factor is likely to lift local prices of cooking gas globally in the coming months due to charter rate hikes.