Independent retailers of cooking gas are set to slash 50 centavos off the prices of every kilo of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) – the second time they would do so in a week.

Arnel Ty, president of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Marketers Association (LPGMA), said the price cutback would take effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, exactly a week after their last rollback.

Since a regular LPG cylinder weighs 11 kilos, the price adjustment would translate to a P5.50 reduction per tank.

The group also enforced a half-peso per kilo rollback on February 2, thus bringing their accumulated reductions to P11 per tank so far this month. Last January, LPGMA member-brands pulled down retail price by a total of P22.

Tuesday’s price tweak put further distance between cooking gas prices of the LPGMA and those from big oil companies like Pilipinas Shell (Shellane) and Petron Corp. (Gasul), which fetch as high as P655 in Metro Manila.

Ty said the cutback brings their suggested retail price (SRP) to P586 per cylinder.

Composed of brands such as Republic Gas, Pinnacle Gas, Cat Gas, Omni Gas, Nation Gas, and Island Gas, the LPGMA usually implements price adjustments at the start of a month based on changes in world contract price for the commodity.

Meanwhile, some consumers are questioning why LPG retailers are spreading out their rollbacks when they could do so in one go.

“Bakit ayaw nila gawing isang bagsak ang bawas presyo kung pwede naman? Dahil ba sa ayaw nilang mabawasan ang kita nila kaya nila inuunti-unti? (Why won’t they rollback prices in one go if they could do so? Do they do it scantily because they don’t want to lessen their profits?)” sounded off one consumer who requested anonymity.