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Passing gas
Think you’re getting a good deal on that cheap cylinder of cooking gas? It may be half-empty, or it might explode, thanks to Vietnam’s illegal gas trade.
Illegal gas cylinder re-fillers are reaping big profits ripping off customers with low-quality, under-filled and often dangerous gas cylinders.
And many legit gas companies are fueling the problem – and hurting themselves – by sustaining the illegal operations in a confused bit to trip-up the competition.
Such illicit re-fillers aren’t registered with local authorities, therefore they do not pay taxes and are not inspected for safety.
The “tax-free” establishments then sell their cylinders to legit agents at cheap prices. Much of the time they don’t fill the cylinders all the way and/or they use low-quality gas.
The dealers who then buy and sell the illegal cylinders can earn up to VND40,000 (US$2.40) for each 12-kilogram canister.
An agent in Binh Thanh District said he proffered selling the illegal containers as he only made some VND7,000 ($0.42) and VND8,000 ($0.48) when he sold a legal container.
Currently, a legally filled 12-kilogram gas cylinder is priced in retail at around VND256,000 ($15.40).
Consumers can save between VND10,000 ($0.60) and VND20,000 ($1.20) buying an illegally refilled gas cylinder.
Self defeating
Ironically, it’s the legitimate gas companies themselves who are most hurt and at the same time enable this process by trying to take advantage of the confusing nature of the gas and cylinder trade.
Gas companies, who say that cylinders account for 80 percent of their assets, have admitted they pay little attention to their stock of cylinders.
Each cylinder is worth about $30 on its own.
Do Trung Thanh, a sales manager at Saigon Petro said that although the cylinders were his company’s most valuable assets, the firm only conducted a full cylinder inventory every five years.
After selling their cylinders to local agents, gas companies collect the empty containers every few months. But many of them often collect canisters from other companies as well. Agents don’t stop them.
They then sell these cylinders cheaply – some VND150,000 ($9) – to illegal re-fillers in a bid to thwart competitors, who will then have to buy new containers. However, the move inadvertently hurts the gas companies that do it, as an increasing amount of customers are buying the cheap versions.
But even the consumers don’t benefit from the cheap gas.
It might be low-quality and the cylinder might only be half full…but worse, old cylinders can become dangerous and sensitive without maintenance, which illegal dealers do not perform. Such cylinders have been known to explode unexpectedly in Vietnam, seriously injuring, and even killing, unsuspecting citizens.
Thanh said it was difficult for gas companies to stipulate fixed sale prices for agents as they might then buy from other companies instead.
Thanh also said the fine for illegally refilling gas cylinders was only several million dong (VND1 million = $60), an amount he said failed to deter the criminals, many of whom are in fact also licensed cooking gas cylinder agents.
Some have even begun to duplicate factory seals and the logos of major gas companies, so consumers don’t know what they’re getting.
Thanhnien
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