KARACHI: The first internationally linked price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) announced by Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (OGRA) recently has surged the local LPG rate from Rs43 to Rs45 per kg.
The aim to link LPG prices with international prices was to control the price from rising in the domestic market and regulate LPG marketing companies for fixing the uniform prices in all over the country. In this regard, on December 06, 2006 Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) has determined the maximum base-stock price of LPG, effective June 03, 2007 as Rs34, 571 per tonne.
But, the graph of LPG prices is presently high in the international market, which has soared the maximum base-stock prices of LPG upto Rs39,854 tonne in the domestic market.
Meanwhile, a couple of days earlier, the domestic prices were registered at Rs35,730 per tonne, which posted an increase of Rs2125 per tonne subsequently after linking the domestic market with global prices. In May last year, LPG prices were recorded at $470 per tonne in the global market, which increased to $603 per tonne in May this year.
This fresh change in the prices is the fruit of newly formed price system aimed at controlling the price surge, said Hadi Khan, chairman LPG Distributor Welfare Association. He was of the view that the regulatory body should devise a policy to maintain the LPG prices in line with the demand of domestic consumption so that the consumers could get the advantages of new system.