LPG traders announce two-day nationwide shutdown

LPG cylinder shops across Bangladesh will remain closed on Thursday and Friday as traders protest alleged harassment over cylinder prices and supplies, Selim Khan, president of the LP Gas Business Cooperative Association Ltd, announced on Monday.

Speaking at a press conference at the National Press Club in Dhaka on October 12, Mr Khan said LPG traders had repeatedly been subjected to harassment over cylinder prices and supply issues, a predicament that had compelled them to suspend business for two days. Moreover, he cautioned that the association would escalate its protest with a tougher movement if its demands were not met. Association General Secretary Nasiruddin Nasim, for his part, alleged that the LPG cylinder market was effectively controlled by just five companies, accusing them of raising prices in an authoritarian manner and voicing exasperation at the concentration of market power.

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The latest price increase took effect on October 4, when the Bangladesh Energy Regulatory Commission (BERC) raised the price of a 12kg LPG cylinder by Tk 252 to Tk 1,837, with prices of cylinders of other weights also revised upwards. Nevertheless, consumers frequently cannot buy LPG at the government-fixed rate, as 12kg cylinders were reportedly being sold for between Tk 2,000 and Tk 2,400. Consequently, the planned shutdown threatens to compound the hardship of households already struggling to secure affordable cooking gas.