Tajikistan boosts its cement, coal production
By Abdul Kerimkhanov
In January-September 2019, construction materials worth two billion somoni ($207 million) were produced in Tajikistan. This is 257.5 million somoni ($26.7 million) more than the same period of 2018.
Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan noted the share of production in building materials amounted to 10.9 percent of the total volume of production in the industry .
During the indicated period, the country produced 3.1 million tons of cement, 127 million pieces of bricks, 816,000 pieces of slate, as well as other types of building materials.
The volume of exports of building materials in the reporting period amounted to $54.4 million, and imports - $31.2 million. That is, the export of building materials exceeded the import indicators by $23.3 million.
The lion's share in the total export of building materials is cement. This product has been exported in the amount of $54.1 million.
In total, more than 1.2 million tons of cement were exported, including 725,600 tons of cement exported to Uzbekistan, 427,400 tons to Afghanistan and 58,500 tons to Kyrgyzstan.
Tajikistan currently fully meets its own cement demands. Since 2015, the surplus of these products has been supplied to neighboring countries.
Neighboring countries prefer to buy Tajik cement because of its high quality and relatively reasonable cost.
At the same time, 1.5 million tons of coal was mined in Tajikistan In January-September 2019, which exceeds the figure for coal production for the above mentioned period of 2018 by 203,000 tons.
In monetary terms, coal worth 236.5 million somoni ($24.5 million) was produced in Tajikistan in the indicated period.
The coal’s storage as of October 1, 2019 amounted to 411,300 tons. It is 207,300 tons more than in the same period of 2018.
During the reporting period, 10,946 tons of coal were exported, including 8,746 tons of Tajik coal exported to Pakistan and 2,200 tons to Uzbekistan.
The Ministry noted that the largest coal consumer in Tajikistan is the Dushanbe TPP-2, which purchased over 856,000 tons of coal, or 58 percent of the total.
Over 481.700 tons of coal (32.6 percent) were purchased by industrial enterprises of the country, 106.5 tons (7.2 percent) by the population and 18,300 tons (1.24 percent) by budget organizations.
The main deposits and enterprises for coal mining in Tajikistan are Fon-Yagnob, Ziddi, Nazar-Aylok, Shurob and Sayyod.