Independent refillers grouped under the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers’ Association are rolling back their prices of the cooking fuel by P1 per kilogram effective midnight, a press release from the group said yesterday.

“Due to the sustained drop in the international contract price of LPG, independent refillers are reducing prices by P1 per kilo, or by P11 per 11-kilogram cylinder,” Rep. Arnel Ty, who represents the LPG-MA sectoral party in Congress, said in the press release.

The recommended retail price of independent refillers is now down to a range of P635 to P640 per cylinder, from P650 to P655, Ty said.

Independent refillers sell LPG at prices 12 to 18 percent lower than those quoted by the big oil companies.

Ty said the international contract price of LPG has dropped by around $90 per metric ton, thus allowing independent refillers to lower prices, the press release added.

Meanwhile, Ty sought the help of his colleagues in Congress in ensuring the swift passage of the bill proposing to establish a one-time exchange program for the benefit of consumers possessing dilapidated LPG cylinders, the press release said.

The House of Representatives previously passed the bill on second reading, upon the recommendation of the 55-member committee on trade and industry.

The bill sets adequate strategies to ensure that every LPG cylinder that comes out of a filling or refilling plant goes through rigorous safety or re-qualifying tests.

Cylinders damaged from normal wear and tear would be promptly detected, repaired and re-qualified, or scrapped, as the case may be, the press release said.

It also protects LPG consumers as well as legitimate industry players against fraudulent refillers and traders, hoarders, and illegal importers of second-hand and possibly harmful cylinders, it added.*

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