LPG prices down P2 per kilogram on first day of 2013

Independent refillers under the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association (LPG-MA) will roll back their prices of the cooking fuel by P2 per kilogram or P22 for every 11-kilogram cylinder on the first day of 2013. LPG-MA, one of the party-list groups that will run in the 2013 elections, also predicted lower LPG prices in early 2013, according to a statement released by the group on Monday.   “Owing to the sustained drop in the international contract price of LPG, we are further reducing prices by P2 per kilo, or by P22 for every 11-kilogram cylinder,” the group said, adding that rollback will take effect midnight of December 31, 2012.   “We see softer LPG prices in the weeks ahead. Hopefully, this will just be the first of our price cutbacks for 2013,” the group said. LPG-MA noted that refillers not aligned with the big oil companies tend to sell LPG at prices up to 20 percent lower than branded cooking gas. LPG-MA Rep. Arnel Ty said the international contract price of LPG has been steadily declining on account of weaker demand from the slowing economies of the United States and Europe. “The stronger peso has also made it somewhat cheaper for Philippine importers to buy LPG in dollars overseas,” Ty, a member of the House energy committee, pointed out. The peso-dollar exchange rate closed at P41.19 to $1 last Friday, the last trading day of 2012. This up 6.21 percent from P43.92 to $1 a year ago.   The Commission on Elections (Comelec) has accredited LPG-MA as a group of sales professionals entitled to participate in the 2013 mid-term elections under the party-list proportional representation system for underrepresented sectors. — KBK, GMA News