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Consumers bear brunt of Liquigas hike in LPG price
Liquigas cites rising price of butane as driver behind increase in consumer, but not industrial, LPG prices.
6 April 2012, 12:00am
Matthew Vella
Matthew Vella
2 min read
The latest increase in international gas prices was not passed on to industrial users.
Liquid petroleum gas prices have continued to increase in Malta, as importers Liquigas cite the increasing international price of butane - one of the two parts in the LPG mix - as the driver behind the latest increase in the price of gas.
But the greatest portion of the increase this time has been borne by domestic consumers. A MaltaToday review of the prices in the last eighteen months finds that consumers who purchase the 10kg and 12 kg cylinders have taken on an increase of 8.5% and 9.4% respectively compared to February 2012.
The slightly larger 15kg cylinder increased even more by 11.8%, but the price of an industrial-sized 25kg cylinder increased by just €2.50 or 6.55% from February.
Liquigas prices were announced on the evening of Maundy Thursday before the Malta Resources Authority issued a formal statement of the gas price increases. While Liquigas cited only the increase in the domestic cylinders, the MRA's price schedule included the unchanged price of the industrial 25kg cylinders.
Varying prices
Consumers who accept regular price hikes on utilities as a fact of life may be surprised to find out that not the entire world is experiencing the increase in LPG prices.
Ultimately it all depends from where LPG importers are buying their gas.
Take Pakistan. The price of LPG plunged by 16% in April 2012 because the state-run Saudi Aramco set its contract price for propane at $990 a ton, down $240 from the March level. The company also lowered its April butane price by $185 from March to $995 a ton, the source said.
Europe's main pipelines are a spider-web of intricate connections that stretch all the way from Algeria to Ukraine. Italy, where the Liquigas parent company is based, gets just 10% of its gas reserves from the Adriatic, the rest from Algeria, Libya, and European sources.
The rest of the world has been experiencing the pressure on LPG prices, although the causes for the increase are varied.
When Australia felt the pinch of a sustained hike in LPG prices over the past six months, LPG Australia's chief executive Michael Carmody pinned the blame on the colder winter in the northern hemisphere. Others put the blame on supply issues in the Middle East, mainly Qatar and Iran.
But only this week transit of natural gas via Ukraine to Europe in the first three months of 2012 dropped by 19.2% compared to the same period last year, due to warmer temperatures in European countries.
At the end of the day, all price increases in the LPG that Maltese consumers buy have to be approved by the MRA.
These monthly adjustments only take place when the variation in the cost of the LPG varies by 2% upwards or downwards compared to the previous month's price.
On average, the cost of a 12kg cylinder in 2011 represented 66% of the actual price: the rest of the price included bottling and storage (14%), commissions for distributors (9%), depreciation and operating expenses (4.5%) and a 3.2% mark-up.
Matthew Vella, a freelance journalist at MaltaToday, was formerly executive editor at Malt...
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Mhux vera l-privatizzazjoni tal-gas giet b'ordni mill-EU,kien biss essigenzi taz-zmien biex gonzi iraqqa l-pannu bil-qara hamra fejn jiedhol il-budgit.
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Kemm ingabru flus DIL-GIMGHA biss?
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Kemm ingabru flus DIL-GIMGHA biss?
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Issa diga' smajna wkoll li d-distributuri tal-gass iridu aktar zieda fil-kummissjoni li m'hemmx dubju li jbatuha l-konsumaturi. NISFIDA lid-distributuri tal-gass li jichdu li ma hemm hadd minnhom li jaqla' inqas minn sebghin elf Lira Maltija (Lm70,000) fis-sena. Iva, sewwa qed taqraw, Lm70,000 FIS-SENA mhux ewros. Nisfidakom li tippubblikaw ir-returns tat-taxxa halli l-poplu jkun jaf kemm qed taqilghu barra li anki ma taghtux ricevuti.
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Xifajk l-unions fl-UE jispiccaw bla haswejn, l-istess bhall-partiti politici u l-politici li issa saru kollha jilghaqu lill-UE ghax ghalihom hemm l-ghasel waqt li ghall-haddiema hemm l-imrar tat-taxxi u telf ta' xogholhom li jittiehed mill-barranin u l-klandestini li jwaqqulhom il-pagi u l-kundizzjonijiet tax-xoghol.
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Dan huwa dak li tfisser il-privatizzazzjoni ordnata mill-Unjoni Ewroepa. Iktar hlas ta' taxxi u gholi tal-prezzijiet ghaliex l-Unjoni Ewropea ghandha wkoll regolamenti dwar l-inqas taxxa li gvern ta' pajjiz memberu jista' jaghmel fuq prodotti tal-energija, jigifieri, il-gass, petrol, pitrolju, diesel, zejt, elettriku ecc.
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Lol tal gass ma dehru imkien illum, ghax peress li sejjer jghola nhar it-tnejn, issa vera tad-dahq. Gonzi Hi inti veru mintiex kapci ta xejn, gibtuna darna mal hajt, issa le PN daqqshek ivvotajt u nahseb PL jiehduh bil familja b'kollox, fejna il kuxjenza socjali tieghek, ma nafx kif ma tisthiex tidher. Skuzi imma issa izzejjed wisq.
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Gas is still very cheap,what are you people are moaning about.20 urow must be just for delivery,so the gas is free.Remember the gas go through lots of hands,all does people want to get paid,you dig.
Luke Camilleri •
It's Gonzi & his clan THE BRUNT the Consumers have to bear who sold all to Liquigas to shirk his responsabilities to the Maltese people!
Is this the Free market Gonzi and his gang boast off?
How right and more than right was Dr. Joseph Muscat when he said that the Gas cylinder price would increase to €20 per cylinder!
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Where are the Unions? There only interest is collecting the membership fee? Since the closure of the Malta Drydocks and Shipyard, the workers has been crashed and dumped in a rubbish dump.
I regret to say that we are back in the sixties, where the the population was getting poorer by the day. I remember then that some of our neighbours used to beg a piece of BREAD.
The Nationalist Government and Party never had the workers interest at heart.
I suggest that if the Unions aren't capable of helping the workers then we should created other Unions with Balls.
Are we living in Greece without knowing?
Dr Gonzi, if you're not capable then let others who are? Or are we to eat the flowers in the roundabouts? While the Hons spend monies in parties and and cars, while the people remain without the bare necessities.
Malta needa another Saviour like Dom Mintoff.
Mark Fenech •
Viva Viva l-privatizzazzjoni, kemm hija tajba, kemm morna tajjeb!!!!!
Insomma dan huwa ċarissmu li l-privatizzazzjoni hawn Malta hafna drabi hija Karnival.
Joseph MELI •
It is a fait accompli for the MRA to approve these gas price rises as the MRA's "approval" is just a charade and a smoke and mirrors execrcise.Like with other fuels these markets and prices are manipulated by governments-closely linked with ,indeed funded by , big businesses- around the world and are false and disproportionate with unfounded scaremongering their biggest tool in the box regularly used to fool us all.These are their weapons of mass destruction(just like the non-existant ones in Iraq which caused a war when clearly this war was based on the unrestrained access to natural resources.The similar situation in Libya also springs to mind!)
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Whatever some people might say gas should have never been privatized and a PL government should take it back because gas is not a commodity but an essential product on which no fat cats should make a profit, it is enough that the tax levied is already very high.
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"The slightly larger 15kg cylinder increased even more by 11.8%, but the price of an industrial-sized 25kg cylinder stayed the same from February, and has been decreasing ever since September 2011 (down 4.9%)." ......... does this mean then that we are subsidizing the hotels and restaurants? That is why MHRA is very cautious when criticizing the government? So its a case of robbing the poor to subsidize the rich, how long can the people keep mum, where are the unions have they ran out of breath?
