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Wushin retains LPG prices for households
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Posted on May 06 2005
A major liquefied petroleum gas company on Saipan will increase wholesale and commercial rates by 30 cents per gallon beginning Thursday next week.
But Wushin Corp. and its retailing arm DL Corp. said they decided not to increase residential prices of LPG to prevent any impact on household users.
Wushin general manager Enoch Sungsoo Lim said his companies decided to absorb part of the impact of the 40-cents per gallon increase that was implemented by their Guam supplier, South Pacific Petroleum Corp., beginning last Monday.
Lim said the supplier increased its price by about 20 percent, but his companies would absorb about a quarter of that increase. Much of he price increase will be passed on to commercial consumers.
Commercial and wholesale rates on Saipan vary depending on the volume of orders, according to Lim. With the impending increase, he said the price of LPG would exceed $3 per gallon.
At residential rates, the companies sell LPG in 90-lb cylinders at $75 each. They sell 50-lb and 20-lb LPGs at $44 and $20, respectively.
Lim said SPPC had notified his companies of the impending price hike as early as March but SPPC implemented the price adjustment only last Monday.
In a letter to Lim last Tuesday, SPPC’s LPG area manager Gordon Guerrero said the price hike was due to increased shipment costs into Guam. Guerrero had earlier said that freight cost increased by over 200 percent in Asia.
Wushin’s competitor, Saipan Industrial Gas Inc., increased household prices for LPG effective May 1, with its supplier, Shell Marianas Inc., citing freight cost increase by $160 per metric ton. Saipan Industrial increased the price of its 90-lb LPGs to $79 each at delivery rate, higher by $4 than the previous price of $75. Pickup rate increased from $72 to $75.
For 40-lb LPGs, the prices increased by $6 per tank. Delivery rate became $45, while pickup rate increased to $42. The new prices for 20-lb LPGs increased by $2 and became $25 and $22.
