The last has not been heard as it relates to the price of cooking gas, as there is a strong indication that it would go up further even though it had increased by 240% in 10 months.
Unmask NG understands that 12.5 kg cooking gas quantity used to sell for N3,000. This was in January 2021, but in October, it had jumped to N10,200.
In view of the latest development on the situation, Nigerians are poised to pay more for the purchase of cooking gas in the coming weeks, as importers of the commodity have halted their operations.
Why cooking gas price will increase
According to Bassey Essien, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGAM) who made this disclosure, the reintroduction of customs duty and Value Added Tax (VAT) on imported cooking gas were the basic reasons for the halt in operations for the importers. Hence, the likelihood of the price advancement.
Essien stated that due to the fears expressed by importers who had stopped the importation of cooking gas into the country, the commodity is now sourced from the Nigeria Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) company that was now selling in the region of N11 million per 20 metric tonnes truck.
This, he said, was with a cumulative daily increase of N300,000 to N500,000 per 20MT truck without the imposition of VAT and customs duties.
Explaining this further, Essien stated: “The NLNG supplies cooking gas to the terminals and these terminals sell to the marketers and at times in a day, the price can go up by about three times.
“Take for example, I was granting an interview on Saturday morning on this same issue and that morning some terminals were selling for N11.6 million to N11.7 million, but as I stepped out of the interview, it had increased to N12 million.
“And the annoying part is that since about a week or two now, nobody has been importing gas because of the issues with customs and VAT. And this is because since the position on these issues have not been clearly stated, importers have to pause.
“The customs is even clamping down on importers and so they cannot import anything, which means that the product in circulation across the country is from the NLNG.
“But when there are issues like this, some unscrupulous people will want to capitalise on the situation, which they are doing, because right now, from what we’ve got, the price at which NLNG product gets to Lagos is about N7 million, but you get it at N11 million and above.”
Why the importation of cooking gas is important for consumers
This publication understands that about 65% of the commodity is imported into Nigeria, while its local production is about 35%.
In view of this, the stoppage of the importation will trigger scarcity of cooking gas, which would in turn influence the increment in price.
