‘Relax gas rationing for some industries’

The Ministry of Commerce (MoC) has cautioned over supply-chain disruption of key essential commodities during the ongoing Ramadan as well as the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitre and Eid-ula-Azha festivals due to the present gas rationing for all industrial units, including those producing such items.
The ministry has urged the authorities concerned to keep some factories, producing widely-consumed food items, outside the ongoing gas rationing arrangement, in line with the Bangladesh Vegetable Oil Refiners and Vanaspati Manufacturers Association's (BVORVMA) request.
In order to address gas supply crisis immediately and provide relief to the consumers concerned, it is necessary to ensure uninterrupted gas supply and suspend the gas rationing order for some industrial clients, mentioned a MoC letter.
The Petrobangla imposed the gas rationing for industrial clients across the country, requesting them to cease consuming natural gas for four hours daily from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm for 15 days from April 12.
The gas rationing is aimed at coping with the country's present natural gas crisis by increasing its supply to the power plants and boosting electricity supply during 'iftar' and 'tarabi' timings during the holy month of Ramadan, a government official said.
The urban households are experiencing poor gas supply even before the beginning of Ramadan, he added.
The Petrobangla instructed all industrial units to follow the four-hour gas rationing for 15 days, a senior official of an essential items producing unit said.
But the decision is adversely impacting the key consumer goods-producing units, like - flour mills, edible oil refining units, sugar plants, and salt mills, he added.
The MoC thinks that such gas rationing might create supply chain disruption during this holy month, when the demand for essential items remains high.
The rationing is affecting the producers of some key consumer goods, like - flour, edible oil, sugar, salt, etc, and they are producing much lower than the demand during the Ramadan, according to a document.
Leading local manufacturers and industrial units, like - Square, City, Meghna, TK Group and others, have applied to the MoC, seeking intervention in this regard, a source concerned said.
When contacted, a senior MoC official said, "We are in favour of withdrawing the gas rationing for the country's consumer items production units. We have requested the authorities concerned to take steps in this connection."
"We think that the ongoing gas rationing in the industrial units might disrupt supply of the essentials, and increase their prices in the market in the coming days," he added.
"We have received the request from the MoC, and are working on it. But, the decision in this regard is supposed to come from the higher authority," a senior official of the Energy and Mineral Resources Division said.

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