Kerosene hits over N800 per litre

The price of kerosene used by several families have jumped to N800 per litre just as the market is beginning to adjust to the newly increased petrol and gas prices.

Market survey by The Punch on Tuesday showed that one litre of cooking kerosene, sold for N700 last week, now sells for between N800 and N850 in urban parts of Lagos State, while the price has hit as high as N1000 per litre in suburb areas at filling stations.

In Ghana, the price of a litre of cooking kerosene currently sells for GHS 12.044 (N585) per litre.

Unlike petrol, kerosene is a deregulated product- meaning prices are determined by market forces.

The National Operations Controller, Independent Petroleum Marketers Association of Nigeria, Mr. Mike Osatuyi, said, “It is a deregulated market. It is also a function of the dollar to naira rate and the crude price at the international market. Since cooking kerosene is deregulated, prices can go up, it can also come down.”

As of June, the Nigerian Bureau of Statistics, had reported an 88 per cent rise in prices of cooking kerosene and Liquefied Petroleum Gas within in one year.

According to the NBS report on “National Household Kerosene Price Watch,” the price of cooking kerosene went up by 86.94 per cent in one year.

The report also said that the average retail price per litre of household kerosene, HHK, paid by consumers in May 2022 increased by 15.21 per cent on a month-on-month basis from N589.82 in April 2022 to N679.54 in May 2022.

The state profile analysis showed that the highest average price per litre in May 2022 was recorded in Enugu with N868.75, followed by Ebonyi with N861.11 and Imo with N801.67. On the other hand, the lowest price was recorded in Bayelsa with N558.06, followed by Yobe with N601.39, and Nasarawa with N603.33.

In addition, the South-East recorded the highest average retail price per litre of household kerosene with N773.09, followed by the South-West with N738.19, and the North-Central with N668.78, while the North-East reported the lowest with N632.06.