LAHORE, Jan 3: The LPG Distributors Association has urged the government to take note of undue profiteering of Rs31 billion by liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) production and marketing companies in the past one year.

Association chairman Irfan Khokhar and secretary Mozammal Abbasi said in a statement on Thursday the LPG had become the most lucrative business due to no check on black-marketing of the commodity in the country. LPG production and marketing companies influenced the Economic Coordination Committee to link the LPG prices to international market last year despite the fact that the LPG was not an imported product, they said.

They said producers made undue profit of Rs14.1 billion by increasing the price of gas costing them Rs5 to 6 per kg from Rs29 per kg in Dec 2006 to Rs46 per kg by Dec 2007.

The marketing companies earned profits of Rs17.2762 billion in addition by raising the retail price from Rs42 per kg to Rs85 per kg during the period. The price of a domestic gas cylinder was increased by Rs611 from Dec 2006 to 2007.

They said Prime Minister Muhammadmian Soomro had ordered de-linking of LPG prices with the international market in November last year, but production and marketing companies were not ready to reduce the prices because they wanted to continue extorting undue profits from helpless consumers.