LPG associations call nationwide strike from 16 November
Marketers reject a new pricing formula they say could raise LPG prices by 25 to 30 per cent, and give the government 15 days to accept their demands.
Liquefied petroleum gas associations have called a nationwide strike from 16 November 2026, warning that businesses across the country will be shut if the government does not accept their demands within 15 days, ARY News reported.
The call followed an emergency meeting of the associations, at which every association taking part rejected the government's new LPG pricing formula, according to the outlet. The associations said the formula must be withdrawn before the strike is called off, the report said.
Ali Haider, chairman of the LPG Marketers Association, said the government had introduced a formula that could raise prices by 25 to 30 per cent. He said the bureaucracy had decided to apply the rate of LPG imported by sea to the whole country.
Haider said about 90 per cent of Pakistan's LPG supplies are currently transported by bowser. He said the new formula would also make domestically produced LPG, which he put at about 30 per cent of the country's supply, significantly more expensive.
The 15-day deadline runs out on 15 November, the day before the strike is due to begin. ARY News did not name the other associations at the meeting and carried no government response to the demands. It gave no date for talks between the associations and the government, and did not state current LPG prices or the size of the market.
The dispute is over how the fuel's price is set. Under the mechanism Haider described, the import rate for sea-borne cargo would become the benchmark for gas sold across the country, including volumes produced inside Pakistan.
Most of the fuel moves by road. Haider said 90 per cent of supplies are delivered to distributors and retailers by bowser, the road tankers used for LPG, rather than by pipeline.
Haider set domestic production at roughly 30 per cent of supply without saying how far that output overlaps with the 90 per cent moved by road.
The associations that issued the notice are based in Karachi. The strike as announced would cover businesses nationwide.
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