Last night we showed you a small portion of the butane consultation held yesterday between a visiting German expert and the local importers and dealers.
The most salient point that came out to us is that the scale is the centerpiece of the trade - and the pound is the most reliable unit of measurement in liquid petroleum gas, what we call butane. It is used in Germany and it should be used here…expect that the dealers went all high tech on us and started using meters…which we now know they don't even rely upon in their dealings with bulk purchasers of butane.
So, butane, then, should be sold by pound, not gallons. We visited a new dealer today who's doing just that. Jules Vasquez has more.
Jules Vasquez Reporting
Right off the Boom Road sits the CDS Gas station, where - since Saturday - locally produced butane has been selling, and only by the pound.
Steve Bissett, Owner, CDS gas
"I have faith in the Belizean product that BNE is offering me. I think that the price BNE is offering and the price that I am offering the consumer is a great price at $0.92 a pound and we will consistently sell by pound."
92 cents a pound is $92.00 per hundred pound cylinder, $36.00 dollars cheaper than a comparable tank of imported butane.
Jules Vasquez
"For a 30% difference in price, I have to be receiving a poor quality butane."
Steve Bissett, Owner, CDS gas
"Well I will disagree with that Jules. I would say that one of the reasons why our prices is so much lower is because this product is being manufactured right here in Belize. It's a natural Belizean product."
So we gave it a try. We took our empty hundred pound cylinder where it was carted in, examined for structural soundness, fitted unto the pump.
Weighed empty at 96 pounds - I told him I wanted a full tank.
Gas attendant
"We have 96 pounds in the empty tank, so we will put 100 pounds in the tank which is $0.92 a pound. Which will give you $92.00 for the full tank."
With that clear, they pumped me up and although the gallon meter was spinning away, I would be charged on the pounds not the gallons.
The pounds kept ticking up - and they stopped it when it reached 196 - 100 pounds more than the empty tank.
The flow meter read 23.4 gallons - which is more than the 22 gallons customarily designated for a 100 pound cylinder.
Steve Bissett, Owner, CDS gas
"No I don't sell by the gallon-age, because the gallon-age will vary depending on the time of the day - with the temperature and so forth. For example, you might get 100 pounds - right now it's 2pm and if you come at 6 o' clock in the morning - 100 pounds might only have shown 21 gallons because of the temperature and the density of the product. So the easiest and most accurate way for the consumer is to give him by the pound because according to the government the way that butane is to be sold, is by pound."
So regardless of what the flow meter read, I paid by pound - and that's what I got my receipt for.
A great deal price wise and a load heavier than butane cylinders we've "filled" with imported gas.
But is it better, or even comparable?
Jules Vasquez
"Now the BNE gas has been criticized by a number of people, saying - even Mr. Plett at LP Gas in Spanish Lookout - says that he warns that those who buy the BNE gas that they may be left with an unusable amount of liquid in the bottom of their tank when they are finished. A.) do you so warn your consumers, or B.) is this a reality those who buy this gas would have to contemplate?"
Steve Bissett, Owner, CDS gas
"Jules to my knowledge the discussion that I have had with BNE is that we don't have any residue of that nature."
So right now, Bissett being the first depot for BNE butane in the Belize district is building a brand, but he's also cutting into the most lucrative market in the country.
Jules Vasquez
"Are you concerned that being the only retail vendor of this BNE butane in the Belize District that you will start to draw some adverse attention from the importers who have dominated this - the most populous district in the country?"
Steve Bissett, Owner, CDS gas
"No Jules I am running a legitimate business and I think they are running hopefully a legitimate business too and everybody has their own market."
But for this market - butane is sold by the pound - whether competition or legislation will force other butane vendors to do the same remains to be seen.
We'll let you know how that hundred pound cylinder burns. Bissett is partner with BNE in the venture.
According to the Bureau of Standards, Butane is etched in the legislation which is the supplies control regulation. It is etched in the regulations to be sold by weight.
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