DUSHANBE, July 28, 2010, Asia-Plus — Specialists from the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MEDT) expect the Tajik aluminum smelter to produce 380,000 tons of primary aluminum this year, Minister of Economic Development and Trade Farrukh Hamraliyev announced at a new conference in Dushanbe on July 28.
According to him, the international aluminum prices are currently US$2,146 per ton, while by the end of this year, the international aluminum prices are expected to rise to US$2,200 and 26 million somoni of net profit will come to Tajikistan’s national budget from selling of aluminum.
Besides, the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) that runs the aluminum smelter accounted for 9 percent of the overall volume of taxes transferred to the budget in January-June 2010, which is 280 million somoni in value terms, the minister said.
In January-June this year, a share of aluminum in Tajikistan’s exports was 70 percent. TALCO has produced 180,600 tons of primary aluminum for 1.2759 billion somoni over the report period, which is 14,200 tons and 101.1 million somoni more than in the same period last year.
We will recall that construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975. On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company.
TALCO 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. TALCO is wholly owned by the Tajik government. Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.
