Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA) believes that the new price of gas fixed by the government from February to reduce the subsidy pressure can be further reduced even if it is taken as all costs.
Farooq Hasan, president of the BGMEA, showed the account and said this in a press conference at BGMEA's permanent office in Dhaka's Uttara on Tuesday.
The price of gas has been increased by a maximum of 178 per cent from this February in an executive order of the government while buying LNG at high prices from the spot market or open market. Where earlier the price of gas was between Tk 10 to Tk 12 per unit, now industrial and commercial customers have to pay Tk 30.
Farooq Hasan said, “National grid gas is a mixture of domestic gas, LNG gas under long-term contracts from the international market and LNG gas purchased immediately from the open market or spot market.”
“In this case, long-term contract gas prices hover between $12 and $13 per unit. And spot market LNG increased to 70 dollars per unit at one time, but now it has decreased to 17/18 dollars.”
“What we mean by BGMEA is that gas prices were fixed when prices were high earlier. Now the price of spot LNG has come down a lot. As a result, the price that the government has announced now will come down further,” he said.
The government has already bought a cargo of LNG from the open market, which is expected to reach the country by the end of February. The owners of the garment industry, the main export sector of the country, have been expressing dissatisfaction with the high price of gas.
Bd-pratidin English/Tanvir Raihan
