Cooking gas dealers drop P0.50 off retail price

The Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA) has cut its retail price by 50 centavos per kilogram, LPGMA president and party-list Representative Arnel Ty said in a statement Tuesday. The price reduction takes effect May 11. For 11-kilogram tanks, the price reduction will be P5.50 per cylinder. Ty said they can lower their prices because “the international contract price of LPG is still down by around $90 per metric ton compared to the price before bin Laden was eliminated." Ty added that LPGMA members are reducing prices by 50 centavos because their previous hike was only P2 per kilo while the big oil firms raised their LPG prices by P3 per kilo. Meanwhile, to remove worn-out LPG cylinders now in use, Ty said he filed House Bill 3976, which seeks to give the Department of Energy the mandate to establish and run a LPG Cylinder Exchange, Swapping and Rehabilitation Program. Ty explained that the cylinder exchange scheme will remove substandard tanks from the market and reduce the risk they pose to public safety. “We want LPG consumers and the industry to start with a clean slate," Ty said. — Earl Rosero/PE/VS, GMA News