Gas cylinder sales fall 4.2% in 2021 with fall in isolation and end of emergency aid

The gradual reduction of emergency aid and the reopening of the economy reduced sales of gas cylinders in Brazil. With the rise in prices in 2022, the market fears that the scenario will remain, even after the creation of the Auxílio Gás program.

According to data from the ANP (Agência Nacional do Petróleo, Gás e Biocombustíveis), sales of 13-kilogram cylinders, most used in homes, fell by 4.2% in 2021. In the first two months of 2022, the drop compared to the same period in previous year is 3.5%.

“Prices have affected consumption,” said the director of Petroleum, Natural Gas and Fuel Studies at EPE (Energy Research Company), Heloísa Borges, at an event held by AIGLP (Iberoamerican Association of Liquefied Petroleum Gas), this Thursday (24).

Considering all types of containers and the bulk market, gas sales were down 1.1% in 2021. In the first quarter of 2022, the drop is 2.2%.

The sector believes that the poor performance reflects the end of emergency aid paid during the pandemic, which helped low-income Brazilians to buy gas, and the reopening of the economy, which reduced the volume of meals made at home.

“People started to eat more in restaurants, increasing energy efficiency in the use of gas”, says Sérgio Bandeira de Mello, president of Sindigás, the union that brings together the largest fuel distributors in the country.

In 2020, with measures to restrict circulation and financial support from the government to low-income families, sales of 13-kilogram cylinders grew by 5.1%.

In addition to the cooling of the pandemic, 2021 was marked by an increase in the price of the cylinder, which rose from R$69.47 at the beginning of January to R$102.28 at the end of December, with transfers of readjustments promoted by Petrobras in its refineries .

Bandeira de Mello says that it is not possible to assess the influence of high cylinder prices on sales performance during the year. But he fears that rising prices after the start of the war in Ukraine could impact consumer purchasing power.

Cooking gas is considered an inelastic product, that is, whose sales have little influence on factors such as price or economic scenario. But at the current level, says the president of Sindigás, this situation could change.

Last week, according to the ANP, the 13-kilo bottle cost, on average, R$112.54​, with a maximum price of R$160 in Sinop (MT). With the increase, the R$ 52 paid for Auxílio Gás today represents a smaller share of the price of the cylinder.

The benefit is paid every two months to 5.5 million low-income families in the country. When it was instituted, the value was equivalent to half the average price of a cylinder, which lasts an average of two months. Thus, the idea was to pay half a cylinder for the beneficiaries.

Now the value equates to about 45% of the average value. In Sinop, it does not guarantee even a third of what is needed to buy a cylinder.

The aid was approved amid an increase in the use of firewood, charcoal or garbage residues by families who could not afford to buy gas cylinders. During the pandemic, alcohol also became an alternative.

Author of the bill that created Auxílio Gás, federal deputy Christino Áureo (PP-RJ) says he is preparing a project expanding the program’s action, which costs R$ 1.9 billion a year. He advocates doubling the number of beneficiaries.

“The population in extreme poverty is already served, but we can move forward,” said the parliamentarian, also at the Aiglp event. The increase, however, could only occur from 2023, as the budget for this year is defined.

EPE (Empresa de Pesquisa Energética) expects that, with the Auxílio Gás program, sales will recover in 2022, closing the year up 0.9%. The state-owned company, however, does not detail how this growth will occur by type of container.

In the first two months, 17% of the volume of this fuel consumed in the country came from abroad, a percentage lower than the 30% verified in 2021. The EPE expects, however, that by the end of the decade Brazil will become self-sufficient, with greater production at from pre-salt natural gas.