The price of cooking gas is expected to rise yet again after the government raised taxes on imported LPG by more than Sh. 38,000.
The new taxes have resulted in trucks bringing in the LPG being denied entry from Tanzania, where much of local gas is imported from.
According to the importers, Kenya Revenue Authority imposed the tax without giving them any notice. The KRA increased the levies from $605 (Sh. 70,000) per ton of LPG to $930 (Sh. 108,000) per ton of LPG.
This was equivalent to a jump of 325 dollars per truck, which importers now say they will push down to consumers.
“We were not given any notice by KRA about the increase of the taxes, our trucks were just stopped at the border with customs demanding extra monies,” Yusuf Hussein, the chairman Independent Gas Dealers Association, said.
Kenyans have been paying record prices for cooking gas. As at April 2022, the cost of refilling the 13kg cooking gas was upwards of Sh. 3,300. This same cooking gas was trading at below Sh. 2,000 a few months ago.
In January 2022, the prices for cooking gas hit an eight year high of nearly Sh. 3,000 with multiple sellers pricing the 13-kg cylinder at Sh. 2,978.
Kenya’s LPG business is mainly controlled by big players, including Total, Vivo, Rubis, Oil Libya and Africa Gas and Oil (AGOL), which owns Proto gas.
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The bulk of the cooking gas used in Kenya comes in through the ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa but supply and distribution are concentrated among a few players.
Approximately 70 percent of households in Kenya still use wood stoves as either their primary or secondary cook-stoves, with a prevalence of 92 per cent in rural areas.