Litro Gas Lanka has reduced the price of its domestic LP gas cylinders with effect from today, chairman Channa Gunawardana announced — and within hours the country’s canteen owners said a cup of tea would get cheaper too.
The new prices, reported by Ada Derana, the Daily Mirror and Hiru News in identical terms:
| Cylinder | Reduction | New price |
|---|---|---|
| 12.5 kg | Rs. 100 | Rs. 4,365 |
| 5 kg | Rs. 42 | Rs. 1,750 |
| 2.3 kg | Rs. 20 | Rs. 815 |
Litro said it had decided to cut prices for September “in order to provide relief to consumers” despite rising international gas prices and challenging exchange rate conditions — the same two pressures it cited in August, when it chose to hold prices rather than cut them.
A move, after months of holding
The reduction is the first change to Litro’s price card in some time. The company left prices unchanged for August, keeping the 12.5 kg cylinder at Rs. 4,465 — the figure today’s Rs. 100 cut is taken from. It had also held flat in June and May, when the same cylinder stood at Rs. 4,765 in the Colombo District.
On that basis the household 12.5 kg cylinder has fallen Rs. 400 since June, though the archive holds no July revision and the exact path between the two figures is not documented.
Litro is the dominant supplier of domestic LPG in Sri Lanka and its monthly pricing decision is watched as a cost-of-living indicator. LAUGFS Gas, the other domestic supplier, had not announced a September revision at the time of writing; in August the two moved together.
Tea down Rs. 5 — short eats unchanged
The All Island Canteen and Restaurant Owners’ Association said it would cut the price of a cup of milk tea and a cup of plain tea by Rs. 5, attributing the decision directly to the gas reduction, Hiru News reported. The new prices take effect from midnight tonight.
The association was explicit that short eats will not change.
That is a narrower pass-through than the last time the association moved on a gas cut. On 4 July, after a fall in both fuel and LP gas prices, it cut plain tea by Rs. 5 and took Rs. 15 off a rice packet, fried rice and kottu roti, with paratha, egg roti and short eats down Rs. 5 each. This time only the two tea prices move.
A note on the cylinder size
Hiru described the largest cylinder as 12.05 kg. Ada Derana and the Daily Mirror both say 12.5 kg, which is the standard domestic size and the figure used consistently in this archive. Litro’s own August price of Rs. 4,465 for the 12.5 kg cylinder, less the announced Rs. 100, gives exactly today’s Rs. 4,365 — confirming the three reductions apply to the standard 12.5 kg, 5 kg and 2.3 kg cylinders. Hiru appears to have misplaced a decimal point.
Not reported
No outlet gave a reason for the timing of the cut beyond the company’s general relief statement, or said whether the September revision reflects a movement in the pricing formula, the rupee, or a commercial decision to absorb less. None reported whether LAUGFS will follow, whether commercial and industrial cylinder prices change, or whether the Colombo District price card differs from prices elsewhere. The canteen owners’ association did not say whether rice-packet or kottu prices were considered and rejected.
