An economist, Dr Ayo Anthony, says the drop in the price of a litre of kerosene may be attributed to a drop in demand for the commodity.

Mr Anthony said this in an interview with journalists on Sunday in Abuja.

Mr Anthony was reacting to the drop in the price of kerosene, as reported in the latest National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) kerosene report for January.

According to the NBS, the average price of a litre of kerosene dropped from N1,362.27 in December 2023 to N1,329.53 in January 2024.

The report said the January price represented a 2.40 per cent decrease compared to what was obtained in December.

Mr Anthony said the supply and demand factor was a contributory factor to the decline in kerosene.

“The number of people demanding kerosene today has reduced. Many households today are going for gas, some for charcoal.

“So the propensity to demand for kerosene is not as much. So that may be a reason why the supply outweighs the demand and the price came down.”

Mr Anthony also said that another contributory factor to the drop in kerosene price on a month-on-month basis could be as a result of a reduction in the cost of domestic production.

Some residents in Abuja confirmed that they either used charcoal or cooking gas to cook.

Elizabeth Ojei, a civil servant, said she used cooking gas but had charcoal as an alternative because she had a large family and cooking gas had increased in price.

“I have stopped using kerosene to cook for a long time because of the health hazards.

“Cooking gas is cleaner and better. But as the price of gas increased, I had to get a charcoal stove as an alternative, I use it to boil water, tomatoes and moi-moi.”

A hairdresser, Esther Paul, said she used charcoal to cook because it was more economical for her.

“I cannot afford kerosene or cooking gas for now. If I buy half a bag of charcoal for N3000, I use it for like three weeks but it depends on the usage.”

Salmat Yusuf, a trader, said she had to buy a charcoal stove because she could not keep up with the increasing price of kerosene.

“I used to use a kerosene stove to fry groundnuts, but because of the price, I bought a charcoal stove as an alternative to kerosene and it is cheaper.

“You can get charcoal for as low as N300 and it serves me longer than if I buy a litre of kerosene at N1,300,” she said.

(NAN)