The government is discussing whether to fill Laugfs-branded gas cylinders with Litro gas if the private supplier cannot maintain continuous supply, Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development R.M. Jayawardena has said.

The object is to stop consumers being left stranded by the Laugfs shortfall, the Deputy Minister told a weekend national newspaper in remarks carried by Hiru News at 3.22 p.m. Colombo time on Sunday.

A special discussion on the proposal is to be held under Minister Wasantha Samarasinghe, with all relevant parties taking part.

Why this is an unusual step

Litro and Laugfs are competitors, and a domestic LP gas cylinder is the property of the brand whose name it carries. Filling one company’s cylinders with another’s gas is therefore not a routine commercial arrangement but a regulatory intervention, and it would require the valve fittings, safety certification and refill liability for Laugfs cylinders to be resolved between the two companies.

The Deputy Minister did not say on what legal basis cross-filling would be authorised, or whether Laugfs has agreed to it.

The supply position

A vessel carrying gas from the Maldives arrived three days late, the Deputy Minister said, opening a shortfall of roughly 240,000 Litro cylinders. After the ship docked with 3,600 metric tonnes, Litro eased the backlog by releasing 100,000 cylinders a day.

Litro chairman Channa Gunawardena said the company has raised daily output from 1,100 to 1,600 metric tonnes to absorb the Laugfs shortage.

That continues a pattern this desk has tracked through October, from Litro lifting daily distribution to near 100,000 cylinders to its order of 44,000 tonnes for November.

Not reported

The filing does not say when the special discussion will be held, whether Laugfs was invited, or what has caused the private supplier’s difficulties. It gives no date for the Maldives shipment and does not reconcile that 3,600-tonne cargo with the separate 3,900-tonne vessel Litro said was due on Sunday. Neither Laugfs nor the Consumer Affairs Authority is quoted.

Naming note. Hiru’s own English headline renders the two brands as “litre gas” and “laughs cylinders”; the Sinhala text reads ලිට්රෝ (Litro) and ලාෆ්ස් (Laugfs), and the filing’s own photograph shows Laugfs-branded cylinders stacked beside Litro ones. This desk uses the companies’ real names.