LPG emerges as accidental bright spot

Dujana, India

LIQUEFIED petroleum gas (LPG), long a niche product used by the poor to cook and the rich to barbecue, has become a rare bright spot amid a broad commodities rout, riding on the wave of strong economic growth in India and parts of South-east Asia.

LPG is best known to US consumers as propane or butane, used in heating appliances and vehicles. But it is also used in the petrochemicals industry and the electricity sector, acting as a replacement for diesel in generators and power stations.