Liquefied gas prices have reportedly risen 30 percent in Dushanbe.
The price of one liter of liquefied gas in Dushanbe has risen from 2.80 somoni on July 1 to 3.60 somoni, with similar prices rises in other regions of the country.
Officials at the antimonopoly agency of Tajikistan say the price hike has resulted from rising cost of liquefied gas in Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports.
Recall that Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy reported on July 26 that Kazakhstan has increased maximum allowed domestic wholesale prices for liquefied gas from 11,034 tenge per ton to 23,106 tenge per ton (343.88 tenge = U.S.$1.00).
The Kazakh ministry noted that some regions of the country have experienced liquefied gas shortages because suppliers preferred to sell liquefied gas to the neighboring countries where wholesale prices are much higher; for example, the price of one ton of liquefied gas is 59,019 tenge in Russia and 104,864 tenge (equivalent to 302 U.S. dollars) in Tajikistan.
The ministry, however, supposed that increase in the wholesale price would not lead to a significant increase in retail prices.
According to the statistical data from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade of Tajikistan, Tajikistan has imported more than 221,100 of liquefied gas over the first eight months of this year and Kazakhstan has accounted for nearly 70 percent of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports.
Over the same six-month period, Tajikistan has also imported liquefied gas from Russia and Turkmenistan.
Tajikistan receives deliveries of liquefied gas by road and rail. More than 60 percent of the country''s motor vehicles use liquefied gas as fuel.
