She took the opportunity to harshly criticize the Barrow Government and the National Gas Company about the two recent price increases for cooking gas.

Well, the National Gas Company, which is the only licensed importer of butane has sent out yet another release calling out the 3 Central American companies on the points made by their attorney yesterday.

Matura is demanding transparency on behalf of Belizean customers about how exactly the importer and the government regulator come up with the prices that you have to pay for your BUTANE. She claimed that her clients would have been able to source it for cheaper if the Government hadn't refused to renew their import license.

Well, in a press release today, the National Gas Company says it has sourced its 2 shipments of LPG for sale in Belize from the US Gulf Coast. The company says that the Mont Belvieu posted price index is a consolidation of trade transactions between buyers and sellers of Liquefied Petroleum Gas.

The company then discloses what the Mont Belvieu propane prices were in June 2019 and December 2019, when the 3 Central American importers dominated the local industry as both importer and distributor of the fuel. In June 2019, the Mont Belvieu price was 45 cents US per gallon. In Belize, the retail price of cooking gas was $5.18 per gallon. In December 2019, the Mont Belvieu price was 50 cents US per gallon, and in Belize, the regulated price of butane was $4.75 per gallon.

In April 2020, when the National Gas Company took over importation, the Mont Belvieu price for propane was 24 cents US per gallon. The corresponding retail price of butane in Belize was $3.55 per gallon. And now in June, the Mont Belvieu price for propane 52 cents, and the regulated butane price in Belize is currently $4.24 per gallon.

The National Gas Company openly questions the 3 Central Americans about their concerns for the customer, when they were the ones benefitting from the higher the Mont Belvieu price.