Economy
Prices of Cooking Gas May Rise by 80% in Three Months—Retailers Warn
By Precious Olisa
Nigerian gas retailers have warned that the price of cooking gas may rise by 80 per cent by December 2023 if the federal government does not restrict the activities of the terminal owners.
At the moment, to refill a 5kg gas cylinder, consumers have to pay N4,500 and N10,000 for the 12.5kg cylinder, according to a price survey by Business Post.
But the gas retailers have raised an alarm that in three months’ time, prices may rise to N9,000 for 5kg and N18,000 for 12.5kg.
In an interview with the Punch Newspaper on Sunday, the President of the Nigerian Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers (NALPGM), Mr Olatunbosun Oladapo, warned that the price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG), also known as cooking gas, has “gone astronomically high at terminals as a result of a sudden increment from between N9-N10 million per 20 metric tons to N14 million per 20 metric tons.”
He emphasised that if the federal government does not intervene with terminal owners, prices will continue to rise.
“There is a ridiculous hike in gas prices going on right now, and I am afraid that if the federal government does not step in to checkmate the activities of these terminal owners, the price could reach as high as N18 million per metric ton by December. This means that a 12.5kg could go as high as N18,000,” he submitted.
Mr Oladapo accused the terminal owners of using the high exchange rate as an excuse to increase the price of gas, saying they were “hiding under the guise of high foreign exchange to increase the price to further increase the suffering of the masses.”
He also told the newspaper that said there was no justification for the increment because the Nigerian Liquefied Natural Gas (NLNG) Limited still supplied the market.
“NNPCL currently takes 59 per cent of the gas produced by NLNG, although NLNG has also increased its price from N6 million to N8 million. Now, because NLNG has increased price, NNPCL and terminal owners have increased price to N14 million,” he said.
He added that when Nigerians face an increase in gas prices, it is not the fault of retailers but NLNG and terminal owners because they’ve increased their selling prices.
“The increase in price that would take effect is not the fault of retailers. It is the fault of NLNG and terminal owners. Even NNPCL is hiding under the guise that they are now privatised to increase prices,” he added.
By Dipo Olowookere
The positive market breadth index recorded by the Nigerian Exchange (NGX) Limited could not save it from further claws of the bears on Friday.
The major performance indicators, the All-Share Index (ASI) and the market capitalisation, depreciated by 0.03 per cent and 0.01 per cent, respectively.
The ASI was down by 78.58 points to 245,283.68 points from the previous day’s 245,362.26 points, and the market capitalisation receded by N14 billion to N158.326 trillion from Thursday’s N158.340 trillion.
Business Post reports that market participants traded 943.0 million equities valued at N46.7 billion in 55,480 deals compared with the 2.1 billion equities worth N230.8 billion transacted in 48,231 deals a day earlier.
This implied that the trading volume shrank by 55.10 per cent, the trading value reduced by 79.77 per cent, and the number of deals surged by 15.03 per cent.
An analysis of the sectoral performance showed that the consumer goods space crashed by 0.60 per cent and the energy index went down by 0.09 per cent.
However, the banking sector improved by 1.90 per cent, the insurance counter expanded by 0.75 per cent, and the industrial goods segment soared by 0.10 per cent.
There were 33 appreciating stocks and 29 depreciating stocks during the last trading session of the week and month of July, indicating bullish investor sentiment despite the poor outcome.
CAP lost 9.97 per cent to trade at N128.25, Veritas Kapital depreciated by 9.49 per cent to N1.43, Vitafoam Nigeria slipped by 7.70 per cent to N179.80, The Initiates dipped by 6.67 per cent to N28.00, and NAHCO crashed by 6.63 per cent to N155.00.
Conversely, Eterna gained 10.00 per cent to sell for N33.00, Consolidated Hallmark also grew by 10.00 per cent to N8.36, McNichols expanded by 9.52 per cent to N5.75, Honeywell Flour increased by 8.96 per cent to N18.25, and First Holdco chalked up 8.00 per cent to quote at N129.55.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The NASD Over-the-Counter (OTC) Securities Exchange extended its bullish run on Friday, July 31, by 0.99 per cent.
This raised the NASD Security Index (NSI) by 43.54 points to 4,431.71 points from 4,388.17 points, and lifted the market capitalisation by N26.13 billion to N2.659 trillion from N2.633 trillion.
The growth came amid a significant decline in the activity level, as the volume of securities decreased by 73.0 per cent to 690,990 units from 2.6 million units, the value of securities slid by 15.0 per cent to N75.0 million from the preceding session’s N88.3 million, and the number of deals contracted by 31.6 per cent to 26 deals from the 38 deals recorded a day earlier.
The most active stock by value on a year-to-date basis remained Great Nigeria Insurance (GNI) Plc, with a turnover of 3.4 billion units valued at N8.4 billion, trailed by Infrastructure Credit Guarantee (Infracredit) Plc with 2.3 billion units sold for N6.5 billion, and Central Securities Clearing System (CSCS) Plc with 76.6 million units exchanged for N5.5 billion.
The most active stock by volume on a year-to-date basis was also GNI Plc, with the sale of 3.4 billion units worth N8.4 billion, followed by Infracredit Plc with 2.3 billion units transacted for N6.5 billion, and Resourcery Plc with 1.1 billion units traded for N415.7 million.
Investor sentiment was bullish yesterday after a positive market breadth index triggered by five price gainers and two price losers, led by 11 Plc, which gave up N14.99 to close at N225.01 per share versus the previous day’s N240.00 per share, and MRS Oil Plc, which shed N14.55 to settle at N132.00 per unit versus N146.55 per unit.
However, Nipco Plc gained N41.50 to sell at N456.50 per share compared with the preceding session’s N415.00 per share, FrieslandCampina Wamco Nigeria Plc appreciated by N12.93 to N147.93 per unit from N135.00 per unit, Nitrox Industrial Gases Plc improved by N1.00 to N20.00 per share from N19.00 per share, CSCS Plc soared by 54 Kobo to N102.00 per unit from N101.46 per unit, and Industrial and General Insurance (IGI) Plc jumped by 1 Kobo to 50 Kobo per share from 49 Kobo per share.
By Adedapo Adesanya
The value of the Nigerian Naira weakened against the United States Dollar in the different segments of the foreign exchange (FX) market on Friday, amid fresh forex demand pressure.
In the black market, the domestic currency depreciated against the greenback by N5 to sell for N1,405/$1 compared with the previous day’s N1,400/$1, and at the GTBank FX desk, it lost N4 to quote at N1,374/$1, in contrast to the previous session’s N1,370/$1.
Similarly, in the Nigerian Autonomous Foreign Exchange Market (NAFEX), it slipped by N1.49 or 0.11 per cent to settle at N1,368.22/$1 compared with the preceding day’s N1,366.73/$1.
In the same vein, the local currency depleted against the Pound Sterling by N3.50 to close at N1,837.79/£1 versus Thursday’s price of N1,834.29/£1, and against the Euro, it shed 90 Kobo to finish at N1,573.87/€1 compared with the preceding session’s N1,572.97/€1.
Data from the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) indicated that interbank FX turnover marginally grew above the previous day by 0.97 per cent to $58.990 million from $58.423 million, with the number of deals executed by financial institutions down by 2.82 per cent to 69 deals from 71 deals, as the nation’s foreign reserves further declined to $51.922 billion from $51.938 billion.
A look at the cryptocurrency market showed that Bitcoin (BTC) fell by 1.4 per cent to $62,004.42 as renewed US–Iran tensions lifted oil prices and strengthened the US Dollar.
Iran said it attacked two oil tankers attempting to cross the waterway under US military escort. Tehran also claimed it turned back four other vessels, while ship-tracking data showed that traffic through the strait remained thin.
The development carries greater market risk than an isolated attack on commercial vessels because the presence of a US escort raises the possibility of a direct military response.
This negatively impacted the crypto space, with Ripple (XRP) down by 1.5 per cent to $1.06, and Ethereum (ETH) losing 1.2 per cent to trade at $1,867.85. Solana (SOL) depreciated by 0.9 per cent to $72.91, TRON (TRX) shrank by 0.4 per cent to $0.3271, and Dogecoin (DOGE) crashed by 0.3 per cent to $0.0698.
However, Cardano (ADA) appreciated by 0.9 per cent to $0.1711, and Binance Coin (BNB) went up by 0.1 per cent to $589.78, while the US Dollar Tether (USDT) and the US Dollar Coin (USDC) remained unchanged at $1.00 apiece.
