And finally tonight we turn to the back and forth over whether or not the National Gas Company's control of LPG importation into Belize has had a positive impact on the industry.
If you listen to the former importers, who exerted the most control on the market up until last year's shift, all Belize has done is created a different monopoly. They are also throwing a bit of shade here and there, alleging that the principals behind National Gas will become wealthy off the backs of Belizean consumers.
They also insist that you won't see any actual relief in lower prices. For context, we've put together all public discourse on what price you pay to refill your butane tank:
Audrey Matura - Attorney For Former Importers
"As of 1st of May, 2020, a monopoly company named the National Gas Company Limited, NGC, has become the sole importer of LPG in Belize. And if you all have been keeping track of the news, from then until now, they've had at least 10 raises in the price of LPG. They keep raising the price. That is because there is no competition. They're the sole importers. They decide what price everything goes."
December 4, 2020
Daniel Gutiérez - Spokesperson, National Gas Company
"The first thing to point out to the Belizean public is that NGC does not sell LPG directly to the Belizean public. We don't do that. NGC is only involved in the importation part. It is 30 companies, that I mentioned that do that. So, the price of the hundred-pound cylinder that you see out there, which I think, right now it is regulated at around 4+ dollars a gallon. That is not an NGC price. NGC's to those wholesalers is significantly below that. It is upwards of $2 a gallon. So, it's way under that."
Audrey Matura
"There's a lot of information - if that is so - that the Bureau of Standards, being the key entity - could have disclosed. They have not done that; they have kept their cards close to the chest. If that is true then, why hasn't the Bureau of Standard released the formula to determine how prices are done. [Do] you really think NGC is in the business to not make money? My clients are surely commercial business people. They're in the business to make money, but at the same time, there needs to be a level playing field."
December 4, 2020
Daniel Gutiérez - Spokesperson, National Gas Company
"NGC and the world's industry - when it comes to Liquified Petroleum Gas, in this area, in this part of the Western Hemisphere - use what's called the Opis Mont Belvieu prices, which is a price index, and it responds to market forces, like all commodity price indexes. So, we will go there. The Government of Belize will verify that, and based on what is published Mont Belvieu price, that is how the initial price or the acquisition price is established. From there, you add the transport to bring the LPG, not only to Belize but to - as we say sometimes - an hour away from where most Belizeans live in large urban centers."
Audrey Matura
"NGC is the sole importer. Who brings in the product determines the price. There are no 2 ways about that. If my 4 clients were bringing in their own product, they would have been bringing it in at different prices and could have competed. Then, what the Government has done, and has refused to explain to us, they have refused to define what is wholesale. They say that the prices are fixed, but the SI doesn't say it is fixed. They keep raising prices, but they don't tell us on what basis these price increases are. Many times the international prices are not increased. So, I don't see how they could say that NGC is not a part of the market."
News Anchor
"Trejo said, quote, "The price regime is fixed… The margins for both Urban and Rural, by design, were meant to allow for independent operators to compete alongside the previous importers of LPG. Not doing this would give an advantage to the previous importers, to squeeze out the independent Belizean operators, since they have significant storage capacity and much more depth in the distribution of LPG in the market."
Reporter
"The position that has been presented to us that whatever additional markup that Belizeans pay, it is to provide local companies [the ability] to compete on the same equal footing as your clients."
Audrey Matura
"That sounds like propaganda. You've surely been coached by the propagandists. They cannot tell you that - well if that is the case, where is the evidence? We're taking the government to court. I can show you the flimsy little 2 affidavits they gave, saying nothing, making all sorts of allegations."
Reporter
"This came from Mr. Trejo himself, ma'am."
Audrey Matura
"The perfect propagandist, then. If that's what Mr. Trejo says, why isn't it in his affidavit?"
"They sit and they create this secret calculation, which has never been revealed to the country. Go and bang on their doors to give you."
"If you go on Y Charts, which is the Mont Belvieu, you can see the international prices, when it goes up or goes down, but even when it goes down, it's going up in Belize. That speaks for itself, but because Belizeans are so stressed out, worrying about how they will live from day to day, they don't have time to follow up on these things."
The Supreme Court trial over the LPG industry shift is scheduled to continue on July 8th.
