'Fuel of the poor' LPG soars in Pakistan, forcing rickshaw drivers to cut meals

Traders said the price of a 12kg cylinder surged 56 per cent to 7,000 Pakistani rupees (US$25.30) within days of border closures triggered by the war in Iran, or about 583 rupees per kg on the open market.

Rashid Ali, 33, waits for customers while offering rides in his liquefied petroleum gas (LPG)-powered motorised auto-rickshaw along a road in Lahore, Pakistan. (Photo: Reuters/Akhtar Soomro)

LAHORE: For 13 years, Rashid Ali has driven a three-wheeled motorised rickshaw around Lahore in eastern Pakistan.

His day starts at 6am and sometimes does not end until midnight, but he was long able to make US$6.50 a day - enough for his family's bare essentials. Now, with liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) prices surging he doesn't even make half that.

Ali, 33, is among thousands of Pakistani drivers who run their vehicles on LPG, which is sold in cylinders and mainly used for cooking and heating.

Majeed Ghauri, chairman of the Awami Rickshaw Union, calls it "the fuel of the poor." He said about 70 per cent of its members' 43,000 auto-rickshaws and nearly 8,000 Qingqis - motorcycle-based three-wheelers that carry several passengers on set routes - run on LPG.

CNA Games Guess Word Crack the word, one row at a time Buzzword Create words using the given letters Mini Sudoku Tiny puzzle, mighty brain teaser Mini Crossword Small grid, big challenge Word Search Spot as many words as you can Show More Show Less LPG prices have surged since Oct 17, when two Iranian border crossings closed, halting imports, traders say, in the latest energy shock since the US-Iran war began in February.

With Ali now lucky to make US$3 a day, his family has cut back on meals, eating only twice a day.

"Previously, when LPG was cheap, we could earn a decent income," Ali said. "Now, it's just not possible to get by on seven or eight hundred (rupees), is it?"

Before the border closures, Pakistan imported about 7,000 metric tons of LPG a day from Iran, the Pakistan LPG Association said.

Traders said the price of a 12kg cylinder jumped 56 per cent within days of the closure to 7,000 Pakistani rupees (US$25.30), or about 583 rupees per kg in the open market.

The government of Balochistan, the southern province that borders Iran, cited security and smuggling for the decision; Iran's foreign ministry said technical issues were to blame. Iran's ambassador later said Iran had imposed no restrictions, including on LPG exports, and blamed changes in Pakistan's import paperwork.