And while the search for the seven dominates the national dialogue and occupies the national conscious, there are other pressing matters at hand. First, butane companies are threatening to go on a nationwide strike effective Friday. Their beef is with the government. Yesterday, the owners of Tomza, Western Gas, Belize Gas, Belize Western Energy and Belmont Butane who represent all butane importers met to draft a letter of complaint to the Prime Minister. 7NEWS has learned that the letter was delivered this morning.
It explains that the steep rise in the world price of butane has not been adequately reflected in the government-controlled price for butane. The letter explains that over the past three months the importers have seen rising costs steadily cutting into already narrow margins and now they say they can’t afford to lose anymore. Not unless the government controlled price is hiked.
So what does this mean to your pocketbook? Well plenty! They are asking government to increase the price for a 100 pound cylinder of butane from $110 to $129 in Belize City. It would be more in the districts after freight charges are included. That’s because the acquisition price for November has gone up $12 a barrel and the butane importers say it’s cut so deeply into their margin that they just can’t sustain operation without the increase to $129.
And that’s where the date of Thursday comes into play. By thene all the old stock will be finished and the new more costly stock will go up for sale. And so if government doesn’t increase the controlled price by
Thursday, well come the end of business on that day, the butane importers say they’ll just have to shut down. They say they are also supported by the suppliers in this.
