KARACHI - The international price of Liquefied Petroleum Gas (LPG) has dropped by $61 to $843 per ton for Ju1y 2011 but local producers have increased its domestic price and slashed daily production by 550 to 1,050 ton. This was stated by the acting chairman of FPCCI Standing Committee on LPG and All Pakistan LPG Distributors Association (APLDA) Mohammad Ali Haider here Thursday. He said Saudi Armco Contract Price (CP) the price of propane has slipped by $40 per ton while butane is down by $70 per ton. Haider alleged that a specific mafia was creating an artificial price rise by disbalancing supply and demand situation. There is a need to increase LPG production to meet the domestic demand of 1,600 tons per day as the sale of LPG has already dropped by 35 percent due to high prices, he noted. Haider pointed that LPG sale can further dropped if the demand supply gas continues to persist. This will have a negative impact on LPG business specially marketing companies and distributors. He suggested the local producers to open letter of credit for LPG import if they are not ready to increase local production. It may be noted that 61,500 tons of LPG was imported from various countries during 2010 to meet local demand, but not a single consignment has arrived since January this year. Haider urged the producers to increase LPG production and bring down prices to Rs 73,000, per ton.