Minister of Industry backs Pertamina's plan to increase LPG prices

Minister of Industry Fahmi Idris has given his support to Pertamina's plan to increase the prices of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) saying that the price increase would not pose a problem to the country's business activities, Bisnis Indonesia reported on Thursday.

"We don't know yet the percentage of the price increase but I think it will not bring a serious impact on the operating costs of industrial activities," he said when asked about his response towards Pertmina's plan to increase the LPG prices.

Pertamina said that it would increase the price of its LPG to cope with the loss from its LPG sales. At present Pertamina suffers a loss of about Rp 2,500 from every kilogram of LPG it sells. Pertamina said that it should at least increase the LPG price to about Rp 7,000 per kg from Rp 4,250 per kg at present to cope with the losses.

According to Pertamina, it could suffer a loss of at least Rp 2 trillion from the sales of LPG this year, if it continued to maintain the current prices. The company sells about 200,000 tons of LPG to industrial buyers a year. (*)