In Tajikistan, where most houses in rural areas are heated by coal and wood, with the onset of cold weather the demand of the population for this type of fuel has increased.
This year, the price for one kilogram of industrial coal (a coal generally used as a heat source in the production of lime, cement and for other industrial uses and is not considered thermal) has risen from 0.30 somoni to 0.8 somoni.
The price of one kilogram of house coal or bituminous coal (it is the most popular and abundant coal, and has been used as a domestic fireplace fuel for generations) this year has increased in Tajikistan on average by 0.55 somoni — from 1.80 somonis and 2.20 somonis last year to 2.35 somoni and 2.75 somoni this year.
Local experts link the rise in coal prices to increasing transportation and logistics costs.
Current average price for one kilogram of house coal in Tajikistan is 2.75 somonis. The price in the market reportedly does not depend on open-cast mining or mine development techniques.
“65% of the cost of coal in cities and district centers depends on transportation costs,” Bahriddin Abdurahimov, Head of the Coal Industry Directorate of the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies of Tajikistan, told Asia-Plus in an interview.
He stressed that local authorities must monitor the coal prices “so that someone does not artificially inflate them.” “It is part of their job,” Abdurahimov said.
The price for one kilogram of brown coal from the Shurob mine fluctuates from 2.75 somonis to 2.85 somonis.
The industrial coal from deposits in Isfara (Sughd province) and the Nazar-Ailoq coal deposit in Rasht district (eastern Tajikistan) is sold at 0.30 somoni per kilogram.
The house coal from thee deposits is sold at 1.30 somonis per kilogram.
As far as the Fon-Yaghnob cocking coal deposit (Ayni district in Sughd province) is concerned, the industrial coal from this deposit is sold at 0.20 somoni per kilogram and the house coal from this deposit is sold at 0.90 somoni per kilogram.
The lowest coal price is reported at the Ziddi coal deposit: 0.50 somoni for one kilogram of the house coal.
It is to be noted that more than 160 industrial enterprises in Tajikistan have been shifted to coal since 2007 and exploration and development of coal fields has been intensified in Tajikistan since 2012 when Uzbekistan stopped gas shipments to Tajikistan.
Experts say coal deposits of Tajikistan are concentrated in two coal basins: Tajik (Gissar-Darvaz) and Fergana. The first of them covers the absolute majority of deposits and occurrences concentrated in central and southern Tajikistan. Deposits and occurrences of northern Tajikistan belong to the South Fergana coal basin.
The coal deposits of the Tajik coal basin in the vast majority of cases are exposed in the mountain ranges of the Tien Shan and Pamir-Alay, framing the Afghan-Tajik basin.
In the territory of Tajikistan there are four regions of development of carbonaceous deposits, each one has a number of characteristic features according to geological zoning: 1) Zarafshan-Gissar; 2) South-Gissar; 3) the Pamir Darvaz; and 4) south-Fergana
The biggest region, largest in acreage coal-bearing area that has the maximum number of coal veins, is Zarafshan-Gissar. The coal-bearing strata extend in almost uninterrupted strip from Panjakent to the river head of the Zarafshan River.
Meanwhile, Tajik ecologists express concern about increase in production of coal in the country.
