Litro Gas PLC will not revise the retail price of its domestic LP gas cylinders for November, the company has announced — leaving household cooking gas costs unchanged for a third consecutive month.
The company said prices currently in force will continue to apply through the coming month, Hiru News reported at 7:39 a.m. Colombo time on Sunday.
What that means in rupees
Sunday’s announcement carries no figures. The prices it leaves in place are those Litro has held since early September:
| Cylinder | Price |
|---|---|
| 12.5 kg | Rs. 4,365 |
| 5 kg | Rs. 1,750 |
| 2.3 kg | Rs. 815 |
Those are the levels set on 5 September, when Litro cut the 12.5 kg cylinder by Rs. 100, the 5 kg by Rs. 42 and the 2.3 kg by Rs. 20. The company then held them through October, and November extends that card further. The figures are carried from this site’s earlier reporting, not from Sunday’s filing.
The month it follows
The decision closes a difficult October for the supplier. Litro’s distribution network came under strain mid-month, with cylinder shortages reported from 17 October and the company moving to daily distribution as competitor LAUGFS struggled to supply. The Consumer Affairs Authority began legal action against LAUGFS Gas over the shortage, with the case taken up in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.
Supply has since been reinforced: Litro confirmed on 31 October that a vessel carrying 44,000 tonnes was due during November.
Not reported
The filing gives no reasoning for the decision, no figures, and no indication of how long the current card is expected to hold. It does not say whether LAUGFS Gas will follow. That remains material: LAUGFS did not match September’s reduction, leaving its 12.5 kg cylinder roughly Rs. 600 above Litro’s, and unless it moves the two-tier market carries into November.
A caution for readers searching this story. “No change in Litro gas prices” is a headline that recurs almost monthly, and older editions rank highly in search results. During the preparation of this article a search returned an EconomyNext report of a 7.5 per cent Litro increase — the 12.5 kg cylinder rising by Rs. 334 to Rs. 4,743 — presented as current November news. That article is dated 5 February 2023 and describes a price round nearly four years old. It does not describe this month. The discriminator for November 2026 is the price triple above.
Update — NewsFirst confirms the prices and gives the company’s reasoning
NewsFirst filed its own report at 8:22 a.m. Colombo time on Sunday, and it closes most of the gaps left open above.
The price table is now sourced, not carried forward. NewsFirst states the three figures directly — Rs. 4,365 for the 12.5 kg cylinder, Rs. 1,750 for the 5 kg and Rs. 815 for the 2.3 kg. The section above reconstructed these from this site’s earlier reporting because Sunday’s first filing carried no figures; they are now confirmed against a verified newsroom’s account of the announcement itself.
The company gives a reason. Litro said prices would not be raised despite rising gas prices on the international market and difficult foreign exchange conditions — that is, the hold is a decision taken against cost pressure rather than a reflection of easing costs.
Update — LAUGFS has stopped supplying the market entirely
NewsFirst’s filing also carries a significant development on the competitor whose position this article flagged as material.
Deputy Minister of Trade, Commerce, Food Security and Cooperative Development R. M. Jayawardena said LAUGFS Gas has currently suspended its supplies to the market entirely, and that discussions are under way to supply Litro gas to LAUGFS customers as a solution to the resulting domestic shortage.
As a consequence, Litro’s share of total national gas supply has risen from 80 per cent to 83 per cent.
The Deputy Minister said legal action has been taken against LAUGFS over the inconvenience caused to consumers. That is consistent with this site’s earlier reporting that the Consumer Affairs Authority began proceedings against the company, with the matter taken up in the Colombo Magistrate’s Court.
This materially changes the “two-tier market” question raised above. The concern recorded on Sunday morning was that LAUGFS might not match Litro’s price. On the Deputy Minister’s account the more immediate issue is that LAUGFS is not selling at any price, leaving Litro supplying more than four-fifths of the market on a held price card.
This article is now corroborated by two verified newsrooms. The note below, recording it as single-source, was accurate when written at 02:40 UTC on Sunday and is retained for the record.
Single source (as at 02:40 UTC, 1 November). This announcement was carried by Hiru News, a verified newsroom, early on Sunday morning. No other verified outlet had filed on it at the time of writing — the Daily Mirror’s breaking-news listing and the NewsFirst homepage rail were both checked at 02:35 UTC. Litro price announcements are normally picked up by several newsrooms later the same day.
Still not reported
Neither filing says how long the current price card is expected to hold, when LAUGFS supply might resume, or on what terms Litro would take on LAUGFS customers — whether existing LAUGFS cylinders would be refilled or exchanged, and at which price.