Christmas holiday cooking for Filipino households will not come very handy, as the price of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) has been increased by P2.25 per kilogram or a total of P24.75 for the standard 11-kilogram cylinder.
As of press time, industry players that already sent notices on their LPG price hikes had been Petron Corporation, Solane and Phoenix Petroleum effective December 1 (Thursday) – and this will stay for the rest of the month.
Petron similarly advised that the price of its autoLPG for vehicles will go up by P1.26 per liter, while Phoenix Petroleum implemented an upward adjustment of P1.25 per liter.
Prior to this round of adjustment, a monitoring report of the Department of Energy (DOE) shows that the pick-up price of LPG in various retail outlets in Metro Manila had been at P786.95 to P971.95 per tank.
Throughout this year, there had been five times of price increases on LPG products in the months of February, March, April, November and December; while rollbacks were implemented seven times in January, May, June, July, August, September and October.
The LPG companies emphasized that the uptrend in prices this month had been due to the rise of international LPG contract prices as benchmarked on Saudi Aramco, the pricing reference for Asian markets.
According to the energy department, global contract prices inched up by $40 per metric ton this December to $650 per MT from $610 per MT in the previous month.
The demand uptick in the international market had been mainly attributed to the inventory buildup of many countries for their winter heating needs, hence, that had subsequently driven up the trading prices of LPG.
For the Philippine market, it is expected that the use of LPG will mainly escalate in households as families and friends will increasingly gather for Christmas celebrations; while usage of this commodity in restaurants and other key establishments will also surge because of the country’s wider reopening for economic and social activities.
After trapped in lockdowns for more than two years, Filipinos are generally excited about "revenge parties" this year. Hence, it is widely anticipated that grand feasts will be part of their overall holiday planning.