LPG price hike adds to consumer woes amid supply shortages

Consumers are growing worried over the latest LPG price hike as shortages persist across the country, with 12-kg cylinders being sold for Tk2,200 to Tk2,500 in areas where gas is available, far above the newly announced official price of Tk1,837.

Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) on Sunday announced a fresh hike in Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) prices at the consumer level, raising the rate of a 12-kilogram cylinder by Tk252 to Tk1,837.

However, field reports indicate that consumers across the country are already trapped in a chaotic retail market where 12-kg cylinders are selling for between Tk2,200 and Tk2,600—up to Tk1,000 above government-fixed benchmarks—while many retail outlets have run completely out of stock.

While state-owned LP Gas Limited (LPGL) maintains a price of Tk777 for its 12.5-kg cylinder, its negligible market share leaves over 98 percent of the country’s bottled gas consumers entirely dependent on private distributors.

High-level meetings and govt crackdown

The price hike comes just a day after Power, Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Iqbal Hassan Mahmood Tuku and Commerce Minister Khandaker Abdul Muktadir held an urgent meeting with LPG importers at Secretariat on Saturday to address the deteriorating market situation.

The high-level intervention follows the Energy Minister’s September 30 directive to Deputy Commissioners (DCs) to investigate whether an artificial crisis is being engineered by market syndicates and to take strict legal action against price gougers.

Pipeline gas deficit fueling LPG demand

Industry insiders and energy experts attribute the unprecedented supply strain to a severe shortfall in national pipeline natural gas.

According to Petrobangla, against a nationwide demand of nearly 4,000 million cubic feet per day (MMCFD), current domestic extraction and LNG regasification deliver only around 2,600 MMCFD.

The resulting power cuts and pipeline gas shortages have forced thousands of households, commercial eateries, and small industries to shift to bottled LPG, creating a demand surge that existing private distribution networks are struggling to meet.

Global shipping & freight surge

Compounding local issues, private importers cite mounting international headwinds.

For September, Saudi Aramco raised its Contract Price (Saudi CP) to $625 per tonne for propane and $660 per tonne for butane.

More critically, global LPG availability has tightened due to Middle East geopolitical conflicts, driving ocean freight rates to record highs.

Importers said while BERC calculated retail prices using a freight benchmark of $160 per tonne, actual international shipping costs have surged to $400 per tonne, forcing several private operators to curtail import volumes to prevent heavy financial losses.

Blame game over import data

The market crisis has also triggered internal friction within the LPG sector.

Official reports indicate that LPG imports dropped from nearly 160,000 tonnes in August to around 120,000 tonnes in September.

However, a group of LPG operators submitted a formal letter to the Energy Division on October 1 claiming import volumes remained steady.

They alleged that certain major importers deliberately delayed offloading and releasing imported LPG cargoes to generate artificial market pressure and inflate prices, demanding an independent inquiry into the bottleneck.

With winter approaching—a season that traditionally sees a seasonal uptick in global heating fuel demand—consumers and industry stakeholders warn that without strict market monitoring and streamlined import support, Bangladesh’s LPG market could face even deeper instability in the coming months.

Experts denounce BERC’s ‘regulatory failure’

Denouncing the price hike, Consumers Association of Bangladesh (CAB) Energy Adviser Prof. M. Shamsul Alam termed BERC’s decision a “validation of illegal market manipulation.” 

He said the raising official prices while failing to enforce retail compliance only shields dishonest syndicates without ensuring gas availability for ordinary citizens.

Energy expert and former BUET professor Dr. Ijaz Hossain highlighted the policy oversight behind the crisis, emphasising that shifting the nation’s energy demand from depleted domestic pipeline gas to imported LPG without expanding state-owned buffer stocks or establishing a price stabilisation fund leaves consumers at the mercy of private cartels and volatile global freight markets.