Residents of Kwara and Benue states paid the highest cooking gas (liquefied petroleum gas) costs in December 2022, according to a recent report by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).
Nigerians in Kwara State paid an average of N4,950 for a 5kg refill. And for 12.5kg refilling, Nigerians in Benue state paid an average of N11,000.
More details: The LPG report by the NBS further showed that the average retail price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas increased by 0.36% on a month-on-month basis from N4,549.14 recorded in November 2022 to N4,565.56 in December 2022. On a year-on-year basis, the price rose by 27.00% from N3,594.81 in December 2021.
The average retail price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of cooking gas increased by 0.67% on a month-on-month basis from N10,180.88 in November 2022 to N10,248.97 in December 2022. On a year-on-year basis, the price rose by 39.78% from N7,332.04 in December 2021.
On a regional basis, the Northeast had the highest LPG cost at N4,693.99 for 5kg refilling. Meanwhile, the South-South region had the highest LPG cost at N10,527.09 for 12.5kg refilling during the period under review.
Reason for the increase: LPG prices are on the rise due to Russia’s war on Ukraine, which has affected logistics and supply chains, especially for suppliers who still have to import LPG into the country as Nigeria cannot produce enough to meet domestic demand. These LPG imports are paid for in US Dollars, and consumers will have to pay for the expenses that suppliers incur when importing LPG.
Can Nigeria meet demand? Nairametrics earlier reported that more Nigerian companies are projected to go into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production this year.
Oluwatomi Mayowa, a senior analyst at Financial Derivatives Company, projected that in 2023, more companies will go into liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production which will increase the country’s capacity. However, with the current numbers, Nigeria will likely not be self-sufficient in cooking gas production in 2023 as the country will still need to rely on imports to make up for shortfalls.
