According to preliminary statistics from General Department of Customs, in the first 5 months of 2024, Vietnam imported nearly 1.26 million tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), worth over 819.35 million USD, with an average price of 650.6 USD/tonne, up 24.9% in volume and 20.6% in value but down 3.5% in price compared to the first 5 months of 2023.
In May 2024 alone, 273,021 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas was imported, equivalent to over 169.71 million USD, with an average price of 621.6 USD/tonne, up 5.1% in volume, 13.5% in turnover and 8.1% in price compared to April 2024.
Liquefied petroleum gas of all kinds imported into Vietnam mainly comes from 3 major markets: Qatar, Malaysia and Saudi Arabia; of which, the most originated from the Qatar market.
Imports from Qatar reached 277,703 tonnes, equivalent to over 165.97 million USD, priced at 597.7 USD/tonne, up 202.4% in volume, up 169.9% in turnover but down 10.7% in price compared to the first 5 months of 2023; accounting for 22.1% of the total volume and 20.3% of total import turnover of liquefied petroleum gas of the whole country.
In May 2024 alone, import from this market reached 41,902 tonnes, equivalent to over 27.66 million USD, at a price of 660 USD/tonne, down sharply by 35.7% in volume but up 0.8% in value compared to April 2024 and a price increase of 56.8%; However, in May 2023, our country did not import liquefied petroleum gas from this market.
The second place is Malaysian market, reaching 219,814 tonnes, equivalent to 144.91 million USD, with an import price of 659.3 USD/tonne, up sharply by 330.7% in volume, up 314.6% in value but down 3.7% in price compared to the first 5 months of 2023, accounting for nearly 18% of the total volume and total value.
Next is the Saudi Arabia market with 187,428 tonnes, worth 125.44 million USD, priced at 669.3 USD/tonne, down 28.4% in volume, down 31.2% in turnover and down 3.8% in price compared to the first 5 months of 2023, accounting for 14.9% of the total volume and 15.3% of the total import turnover of liquefied petroleum gas of the whole country.
LPG in Vietnam is mainly used for filling into tanks to serve needs of people such as heating, cooking, industry, use in vehicles, refrigerants... Besides, other applications from LPG products are still low such as use in petrochemical technology.
Currently, domestic gas supply can only proactively meet about 60% of consumption. Therefore, domestic gas retail prices are controlled and affected by world gas prices.
Domestic retail gas prices in June continued to decrease since June 1. Specifically, retail price of Petrolimex gas cylinders (including VAT) in June in the Hanoi market was VND 445,400/12kg household cylinder; VND 1,781,500/48kg industrial cylinder, respectively down VND 3,400/12kg cylinder and VND 13,700/48kg cylinder (including VAT).

Source: Vitic/ congthuong.vn