The price of urea has nearly halved in Tajikistan. The Levakant-based Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Azot (formerly TojikAzot – Tajikistan’s fertilizer plant) has announced a reduction in urea prices from 7.00 somonis to 3.60 somonis per kilogram.
An official source at the Ministry of Agriculture (MoA) says current price for a 50-kilogrm sack of urea in Tajikistan is 180.00 somonis. In 2023, the 50-kilogram sack of urea cost 350.00 somonis, and in 2022, the 50-kilogram cost of urea cost 400.00 somonis.
Due to resumption of production of mineral fertilizers inside Tajikistan, the country’s fertilizers imports have reportedly reduced by 12 percent.
According to official data from OJSC Azot, it produced more than 36,000 tons of nitrogen fertilizers last year and the Yovon-based chemical plant produced 1,100 tons of phosphate fertilizers in 2023.
Meanwhile, according to data of a MoA, to obtain optimal crops Tajikistan needs at least 600,000 tons of mineral fertilizers annually.
Last year, Tajikistan reportedly imported 175,500 tons of mineral fertilizers, which is 23,700 tons fewer than in 2022.
After many years of standing idle, Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Azot (formerly TojikAzot – Tajikistan’s fertilizer plant) reportedly resumed operations on April 25 last year.
OJSC Azot produces mineral fertilizers and their components, including urea, ammonia, nitrogen, etc. The new owner of OJSC Azot is Osiyo Chemical Company.
When operating in full capacity, OJSC Azot is able to produce 123,600 tons of urea annually and the Yovon based Talco Chemical plant is able to produce up to 75,000 tons of phosphate fertilizers per year.
The debt-ridden and loss-making fertilizer plant located in Levakant City in Khatlon Province had not been in operation since 2008 due to lack of natural gas supplies.
Until 2008, when neighboring Uzbekistan upped the price of natural gas, a key input for the factory, TojikAzot served as a foreign investment-success story for Tajikistan’s economy.
TojikAzot was partly state owned, with the government controlling a 20 percent stake in the troubled enterprise. Ostark Ventures Limited (Ukrainian oligarch Dmitry Firtash is beneficial owner of Ostark Ventures Limited) assumed the 75% ownership interest in the enterprise and Khairullo Saidov, the son of ex-Minister of Industry Zayd Saidov, owned 5.0 percent of shares in TojikAzot.
On June 24, 2014, the Khatlon Economic Court invalidated the transaction for the sale of TojikAzot.
On December 14, 2016, the Majlisi Namoyandagon (Tajikistan’s lower house of parliament) voted for ratification of an investment agreement signed between the Government of Tajikistan and China’s Henan Zhongya Holding Group on September 3, 2016.
Under this agreement, the Chinese company owned 50%+1 shares of the enterprise for the first ten years and then it was supposed to transfer this package of shares to Tajikistan.
Henan Zhongya Holding Group had been committed to invest US$360 million in modernization of coal-powered technological equipment and construction of new shops for production of urea and ammonia in Tajikistan within the next three years. However, the construction works have not been begun.
In August 2019, Tajikistan formally revoked a contract with Henan Zhongya Holding Group, accusing it of failing to fulfill the contract and a full package of shares of OJSC Azot was put out to an investment tender.
In February 2022, the Government of Tajikistan ordered to sign an investment agreement with Osiyo Chemical Company on rehabilitating, modernizing and introducing OJSC Azot into operation. The estimated budget for implementation of this project, designed for five years, is not less than 200 million somonis.
