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CAA unaware of Laugfs move

31 Jul 2021

  • No communication by Laugfs to CAA on stopping imports 
  • CAA unsure on how to meet demand if Laugfs pulls out 
By Maheesha Mudugamuwa  No official communication has been forwarded by the private liquid petroleum gas (LPG) distributor, Laugfs Gas, to the market regulator, the Consumer Affairs Authority (CAA), of any intention to stop the importation of LPG, according to CAA Chairman Major General (Retd.) D.M.S. Dissanayaka.  When contacted by The Sunday Morning yesterday (31 July), he said the CAA was not aware of whether Laugfs was planning to stop importation and questioned whether the company had said so.  However, the CAA had no idea on how it would cater to the Laugfs consumers in the event the company stopped importation.  Responding to the recent statement made by Laugfs Gas Chairman W.K.H. Wegapitiya that since there are issues in opening letters of credit (LCs) to import gas, and because banks are also facing a shortage of dollars, the company would have to face a natural halt in the importation of gas, CAA Chairman Dissanayaka said it should be discussed with the Ministry of Finance and not with the CAA.  Meanwhile, the recently appointed Litro Gas Lanka Chairman, Teshara Jayasinghe has stated that Litro was ready to sell gas in bulk to Laugfs at a nominal rate, so they can continue operations or to cater to their commercial market, while they handle their domestic market.   Jayasinghe had added that Litro could fill Laugfs gas cylinders if the CAA granted permission.  The Sunday Morning learnt that importers are incurring a loss of around Rs. 500 per cylinder for the past six months. As a result, the main LPG importers Litro and Laugfs have incurred billions of rupees in losses during the past several years.  Wegapitiya, speaking to The Sunday Morning on an earlier occasion, said his company is struggling to survive due to the incurring of heavy losses, as there was a huge gap between the importing prices and selling price of LPG.  “We have discussed this with everyone, but we still didn’t get a positive response. We can’t run like this. We have already incurred a massive loss. We have requested the Government to increase the prices, but they haven’t done that either. We have catered to the market even while incurring heavy losses during the past six months,” he added.   Meanwhile, the Government revised the maximum retail price of the 18 litre/9.6 kg cylinder according to each province by an extraordinary gazette issued on 25 July. 

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