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No LPG price hike so far—supplier
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Posted on Mar 21 2008
While gas prices have gone up, all is silent in the liquefied petroleum gas front—at least for now.
Saipan Industrial Gas president Diony Lopez said that his company has so far not scheduled any price increases and is crossing its fingers that no hikes would be announced by the industry in the near future.
“No increase yet. I hope that by the first week of April, the price of fuel will go down, so we don’t have to raise our prices,” Lopez said in an interview with the Saipan Tribune, sounding optimistic as oil prices in the world market began to go down from the high $110-mark per barrel at the start of the week.
However, Lopez said that because of the late February and March increase in fuel costs, Saipan Industrial Gas won’t be able to go ahead with its planned rollback of prices.
Early last month, Lopez announced that the Puerto Rico-based company’s LPG products would decrease by 1 percent per lb. due to its main supplier in Guam, Shell North Pacific (Shell Guam Inc.), slashing the prices of its LPG products.
In related news, Lopez reported that Saipan Industrial Gas’ stocks are always full.
“We have a lot of inventory. We always fill up our inventory. All our tanks are full. So that in case of emergency, delay, whatever it is, we will not run out,” he said.
Lopez also revealed that the company recently enjoyed a rise in its market share on Saipan.
“Market share I think has increased a little. Our competitor is bigger because of their bulk customers but I believe we are more profitable because we are bigger in the cylinder business.”
Saipan Industrial Gas did not disclose how much its LPG products currently retail per lb.
Operating in the CNMI since 1985, Saipan Industrial Gas is located in Puerto Rico, Saipan, and sells LPG products both to commercial and residential customers.
Lower Base-headquartered Wushin Corp. was contacted by the Saipan Tribune about future prices hikes, but e-mails were not returned as of press time.
