Huge 140 ptas jump in butane price from tomorrow

The cost of butane gas goes up tomorrow to 1'449, a massive 140 pesetas or 10.7 per cent increase. The current price of 1'309 pesetas has been in force since October. The order authorising the new price was published in the Official State Gazette yesterday. Repsol confirmed that it will increase the cost of a butane bottle the full 140 pesetas and will do so with effect from tomorrow. Finance ministry sources said that the increase was because raw materials had gone up by $36 a ton and the dollar had appreciated by nearly 14 pesetas. The government approved a new system for fixing the maximum price of butane last October, and since then the price has gone up by 334 pesetas, or 30 per cent. It is now revised twice a year, in April and October and calculations are based on the international quotations for butane and propane in the North Sea and Saudi Arabia, transport costs and the euro/dollar exchange rate.