KHUJAND, September 11, 2008, Asia-Plus – The Khujand-based open joint-stock company (OJSC) Poyafzolduzi Khujand (leather and foot-wear enterprise) is completing assembly of equipment for production of leather soles that will allow producing shoes with using only domestic raw materials, the Poyafzolduzi Khujand director general Abduahad Poulodov said in an interview with Asia-Plus.
According to him, the new line will have the capacity of producing up to 600 pairs of shoes in one shift.
The company launched a leather-processing workshop in March. The test capacity of the workshop is 500 skins per month. However, the workshop operates in one shift and processes up to 200 skins per month. The enterprise uses the processed leather for manufacturing leather goods.
Established in 1938, OJSC Poyafzolduzi Khujand had stood idle since 1995 and resumed operation only last year. 100 persons currently work with the enterprise. Last year, it produced 3,000 pairs of shoes and over the first four months of this year, it has produced 700 pairs, which is ten times more than in the same period of last year. Poyafzolduzi Khujand’s products are still realized only on the domestic market.
We will recall that the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) is currently working on developing the national program for processing leather and wool into manufactured goods inside the country. At present leather and wool Tajikistan produces are exported for manufacturing outside Tajikistan, while attraction of investment in development of this sector could promote launch enterprises for processing leather and wool into manufactured goods in Tajikistan.
According to the ministry, three leather and foot-wear enterprises currently operate in the country: Interfur and Kuhandiz in Dushanbe and OJSC Poyafzolduzi Khujand in northern Tajikistan. Besides, there is an enterprise for preprocessing leather in Sarband, Khatlon province; the enterprise with capacity of 1,500 tons of leather per year currently stands idle because there are no buyers for its product.
The program for processing leather and wool into manufactured goods inside the country is expected to be submitted for consideration to the government before the end of this year.
