The Nigerian Association of Liquified Petroleum Gas Marketers say they will stop importing Liquified Petroleum Gas commonly known as cooking gas as price of the product rises.
Reports say that the cost of importation has increased by 240% for every 12.5kg. This translates to an increase from N3,000 to N10,200 between January and October 2021.
An estimated 65% of Nigeria’s cooking gas is imported leaving only 35% to local production. Stopping the importation of the product is expected to cause further retail price increases.
Bassy Essien, Executive Secretary, Nigerian Gas Importers Association who spoke on the spiralling cost of the product said that, “The NLNG supplies LPG 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 N11.6m to N11.7m, but as I stepped out of the interview, it had increased to N12m.”
He told reporters that the increase in import duties and taxes on the Gas was the reason why the traders would stop importing;
“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.”
He added, “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 N7m, but you get it at N11m and above.”
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LPG is used as fuel gas in heating appliances