The Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) report recently released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) shows that the average price for refilling a 5kg cylinder of cooking gas decreased by 1.06% to N1,953.71 in October, from N1974.67 in September 2020.
This is according to the latest NBS Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) Price Watch report, for the month of October 2020, which was released today the October 17.
The report was conducted by collating prices of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) across all the 774 local governments across the nation with over 10,000 respondents and locations.
Also, the average price for refilling a 12.5kg cylinder of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) also decreased by -0.78% month-on-month and by -0.64% year-on-year to N4,078.65 in October 2020 from N4,110.92 in September 2020.
- States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for LPG (Cooking Gas) were Bauchi (N2,487.83), Borno (N2,392.77), and Adamawa (N2,367.80).
- States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 5kg cylinder for LPG (Cooking Gas) were Enugu (N1,611.11), Jigawa (N1,678.57), and Imo (N1,693.75).
- States with the highest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for Liquefied Petroleum Gas (Cooking Gas) were Cross River (N4,598.50), Akwa Ibom (N4,562.50), and Anambra (N4,503.14).
- States with the lowest average price for the refilling of a 12.5kg cylinder for LPG (Cooking Gas) were Kano (N3,560.00), Oyo (N3,638.46), and Zamfara (N3,700.00).
A careful review of the report revealed that the decrease in the average price Nigerians paid to refill cooking gas in October is attributable to the fall in the purchasing power of Nigerians, given the widespread economic vulnerabilities in the nation and the civil unrest in October which impacted businesses negatively.
This development led to a drawback in the use of gas cookers at all front, as some Nigerians moved to cheaper alternatives like kerosene cookers and charcoal to meet their food needs.
It is important to note that this changed economic expectations and reality triggered the average price per litre Nigerians spent on a close substitute (Kerosene) by 1.42% month-on-month and by 8.69% year-on-year in October 2020.
The Kerosene price watch by NBS for the month of October revealed that average price per litre paid by consumers for National Household Kerosene increased by 1.42% month-on-month and by 8.69% year-on-year to N352.93 in October 2020 from N347.98 in September 2020.
