DUSHANBE, January 29, 2013, Asia-Plus – Aluminum production fell 2.0 percent in a year to December 31, 2012, Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sharif Rahimzoda, announced at a news conference in Dushanbe on January 29.
According to him, Tajikistan produced 272,500 tons of primary aluminum last year, which was 97.9 percent of the target.
“The main reason for reduction in aluminum production is an acute shortage of natural gas,” the minister noted.
The share of aluminum in Tajikistan’s exports reportedly fell from 54.6 percent in 2011 to 39.5 percent in 2012.
We will recall that Tajikistan’s aluminum exports over the first ten months of 2012 fell to 221,500 tons, which is 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.
Asked about the upcoming restructuring of the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO), Sharif Rahimzoda said that it would be carried out gradually and “it is a matter of dividing the non-core productions.”
“Certain structures of the aluminum company must make shift to self-repayment,” said the minister. “The main objective of the restructuring process is in defining the vulnerable spots that are keeping the company back.”
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.
