Azernews.Az

By Abdul Kerimkhanov

Tajikistan exported 1.3 million tons of cement this year, which is 40 percent of the total volume produced in the country in January-November.

Cement plants in Tajikistan, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies, have released 3.5 million tons of cement during this time. In such volumes, this building material in the republic was produced for the first time in history. For the entire 2017, the country produced 3.1 million tons of cement, and this figure was also considered a record at the time.

Cement production this year was provided by the Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Chungtsai Mohir Cement (30.5 percent of its total output), Huaxin Gayur Cement (28.6 percent), Huaxin Gayur Sugd (25.8 percent). The share of the capital cement plant ("Tajikcement") in the total volume was only 6.4 percent.

Tajikistan in recent years has significantly increased the volume of cement production through the construction of new joint Tajik-Chinese capacities. Over the past eight years, Chinese investors have helped Tajikistan increase its cement production nearly tenfold.

Meanwhile, about 1.3 million tons of cement produced in Tajikistan were delivered to neighboring countries in January-November.

In particular, 738,000 tons were exported to Uzbekistan, 481,000 tons - to Afghanistan and 85,000 tons - to Kyrgyzstan.

Almost 96 percent of total exports accounted for the three above-mentioned Tajik-Chinese joint ventures: Chungtsai Mohir Cement — 35.7 percent, Huaxin Gayur Cement — 33 percent, and Huaxin Gayur Sugd — 27.2 percent.

At present, 13 enterprises are engaged in cement production in Tajikistan, the total capacity of which is about 5 million tons per year.

During the years of independence in Tajikistan, dozens of new cement plants were created using foreign investment.

In January-April 2018, these enterprises produced 1.14 million tons of cement. This is 470,000 more than the same period in 2017.

Currently, Tajik cement is supplied mainly to the markets of Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Afghanistan.

The enterprises of Tajikistan produce the most popular grades of sulfate-resistant cement - M400 and M500.

In the coming years, it is planned to build and launch new cement manufacturing enterprises in the republic. In particular, preliminary work began on the construction of a cement plant in the Kubodiyon district of Khatlon region, which will become the largest in the country.

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Abdul Kerimkhanov is AzerNews’ staff journalist, follow him on Twitter: @AbdulKerim94

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