Top 10: The best of Trader’s Corner 2025

The end of the year is a special time for us at LP Gas magazine as we say thank you – for being loyal readers of the magazine and of our digital content, including the weekly Trader’s Corner newsletter.

This time of the year also gives us a chance to look back and learn about the topics that interested you, our readers, the most. We can do that by monitoring the digital metrics on our website. This also allows us to have a little fun by listing the top Trader’s Corner articles of the year.

So here they are – our top 10 Trader’s Corner articles of 2025, written by Mark Rachal of our partner Cost Management Solutions. We’re ranking them by page views and counting down from No. 10. (Note: The charts and graphs shown here accompanied the reports at that time.)

10. Hot topic: Propane markets bullied by the weather

Report date: Jan. 6, 2025

The new year began with a focus on the weather. Rachal attributed a rise in propane prices to rising crude prices as well as a winter storm and forecasted cold temperatures in January. He also used this report to review propane fundamentals, such as inventories, production and export demand.

Read more: Can the propane industry handle this winter storm?

9. Hot topic: Balancing the supply/demand equation

Report date: April 22, 2025

Something was amiss in the market last spring. The Mont Belvieu ETR propane forward price curve showed April 2025 propane at 13.25 cents higher than May and 17.75 cents above Conway April propane. This report sought to solve the unknown in the supply/demand equation that appeared out of balance.

Read more: Solving for the unknown in crazy April propane prices

8. Hot topic: Clarifying the sources of propane supply

Report date: Feb. 25, 2025

Using terms such as natural gas wells and crude wells can lead to confusion and possible misconceptions concerning propane supply, Rachal writes in this detailed report about production processes. He shares his preferred term – hydrocarbon wells, since many different hydrocarbons are produced from these wells. Though propane is a light hydrocarbon and a natural gas liquid, most of it today is produced via heavy hydrocarbons or crude wells.

Read more: Correcting a common misconception about propane supply

7. Hot topic: A pause on price protection

Report date: June 24, 2025

The middle of the year wasn’t the best time for propane retailers to buy price protection for the upcoming winter. This report reviewed CMS’ benchmark for when valuations are favorable to buyers. When this report hit inboxes, propane inventories had finally recovered from well below the five-year average to above it, allowing prices to resist rising crude.

Read more: Bad propane pricing environment could have been worse

6. Hot topic: Pricing year in review

Report date: Jan. 13, 2025

With 2024 in the rearview mirror, Rachal used this January report to review the full year’s prices. Such an exercise, he writes, can provide a baseline for decisions regarding price protection in the upcoming year.

Read more: A look back at 2024 propane pricing

5. Hot topic: Historical price averages and expanding the buy window

Report date: April 7, 2025

This report revisited the importance of propane retailers expanding the buy window for price protection beyond the upcoming winter. It also discussed the historical averages for propane and why it’s best to choose the 10-year price average over the five-year average as the buying benchmark.

Read more: Far-out thoughts on buying propane

4. Hot topic: U.S.-Russia relations

Report date: Aug. 19, 2025

It’s not often that Trader’s Corner acknowledges the implications of a meeting between two countries’ presidents, but that’s exactly what happened in this summer report. U.S. President Donald Trump and Russian President Vladimir Putin were scheduled to meet and discuss the war in Ukraine, with their decisions potentially impacting energy markets.

Read more: Why propane prices are lower this year

3. Hot topic: The importance of natural gas

Report date: March 18, 2025

While natural gas pricing doesn’t impact propane prices much, about 90 percent of propane supply comes from natural gas processing. That alone makes natural gas important to those who put bread on the table by participating in the propane industry, Rachal writes. And it’s why he devoted a report to the ties between natural gas and propane.

Read more: Is it a new era for natural gas pricing?

2. Hot topic: The relationship between crude and propane

Report date: Feb. 10, 2025

Crude holds the key to propane’s overall pricing environment. If one is going to have any outlook or forecast for propane prices, Rachal explains, they must begin with an evaluation of crude. Readers of this report are treated to Rachal’s “fighter jet and rocket” analogy that explains the relationship between crude and propane.

Read more: Outlook for crude and its impact on propane prices

1. Hot topic: Rising crude and propane prices

Report date: Jan. 21, 2025

Our top post of the year occurred in the heart of winter when Rachal wrote about “the dreaded propane price spike.” A combination of rising crude prices and extremely cold weather led to a more than 20-cent surge in propane prices at the hubs. The spike also led to a discussion about price protection, which Rachal says could give retailers “a fighting chance” to keep customers happy.

Read more: The dreaded propane price spike

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