DUSHANBE, July 30, 2013, Asia-Plus – Over the first six months of this year, Tajikistan has exported more than 109,000 tons of primary aluminum, which was 31,700 tons fewer than in the same period of last year, according to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT).
An official source at a MoEDT says that during the report period, an average price for one ton of primary aluminum was 1,914 U.S. dollars, 166.00 U.S. dollars fewer than in January-June 2012.
Over the same six-month period, Tajikistan has reportedly produced 117,600 tons of primary aluminum, which was 18.7 percent or 271 tons fewer than in the same period last year.
The source attributed considerable reduction in aluminum production to disruption in natural gas supply from Uzbekistan.
We will recall that Tajikistan produced 272,500 tons of aluminum last year, which was 2.0 percent fewer than in 2011. The share of aluminum in Tajikistan’s exports fell from 54.6 percent in 2011 to 39.5 percent in 2012.
Tajikistan’s aluminum exports over the first ten months of 2012 fell to 221,500 tons, which was 12,300 tons fewer than in the same period in 2011. The country’s aluminum exports reportedly declined due to the fall in the international aluminum prices.
The aluminum plant, run by the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO), was launched in late March 1975. It is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world and provides up to 70% of the country’s foreign currency earnings, consuming 40% of the country’s electrical power. Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.
