BELMOPAN, Wed. Oct. 13, 2021– The price of Liquid Petroleum Gas (LPG) continues to rise and has now reached an all-time high in Belize. The Supplies Control Unit (SCU) in the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Security and Enterprise has announced that, effective Wednesday, October 13, the fixed price of LPG will increase by $0.38 per gallon.
The price increase is being attributed to the increased demand for LPG globally, which has placed undue pressure on the dwindling supply of the United States, which is one of the world’s primary sources of LPG, as well as Belize’s leading source. That country has been observing a constant rise in exports since January 2015. The increased demand and low supply have thus been pushing LPG prices upward, and drastically impacting the international markets.
A Vanguard report suggests that prices may continue to rise, since the US supply has dipped by 20.5%. Over the past nine months, LPG prices have significantly increased in the US, which has affected the price of LPG in Belize. In February of 2021, the wholesale price of LPG gas per gallon was recorded at BZ$3.42; currently, this price has skyrocketed to $4.75 — a notable BZ$1.33 increase within that nine-month period. Retail LPG prices in Belize now stand at BZ$6.35 per gallon in urban areas and BZ$6.45 per gallon in rural areas. The retail prices per pound have also risen — from $1.36 and $1.38 per pound in urban and rural areas, to $1.44 and $1.47 respectively.
In a release from the Belize Bureau of Standards, the SCU stated, “The general public is advised that the prices established for imported LPG are based on the mixtures of 70:30 (Propane: Butane) only as per the requirement of the Belize National Standard Specification for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) BZS 21:2012.”