DUSHANBE, July 6, 2013, Asia-Plus – Pakistan”s major export to Tajikistani market is cement, which has a high demand and is supplied through Afghanistan. Pakistan now dominates Tajikistan’s cement market. Pakistan’s annual cement shipments to Tajikistan amount to some 1.7 million tons, which is 75-80 percent of the country’s cement market.
In a statement released at a news conference in Dushanbe, Mohammad Iqbal, Chairman of Pakistan Manufacturers’ Association, noted on July 5 that Pakistan is ready to increase cement exports to Tajikistan in the future as well.
“In spite of allegations that Pakistani cement is of low quality, we work in accordance with international standards, and each consignment of cement undergoes lab tests,” noted Mr. Iqbal. “Pakistan is among world’s top cement exporters and it exports cement to 27 countries of the world.”
Representatives of Pakistani leading cement manufacturers participated in the news conference and they noted that vehicles carrying cement to Tajikistan did not return empty. According to them, they carry farm produce and cotton from Tajikistan to Pakistan.
“Our cement plants work on coal and we know that Tajikistan has large reserves of high-quality coal. We would like to conclude agreement with the Government of Tajikistan on Tajik coal shipments to Pakistan,” said one of Pakistan entrepreneurs.
“We would like to develop our business in Tajikistan,” said Mohammad Iqbal. “We would like to build a cement plant here, but it is a capital-intensive investment requiring at least 200 million USD. Therefore, it is still impossible.”
Current price for one ton of Pakistani cement in Tajikistan is 1,060 somoni (little more than 200.00 USD). In Pakistan, the selling price for one tone of Pakistani cement is not more than 65.00 USD.
According to data of the Ministry of Energy and Industry (MoEI) of Tajikistan, Tajikistan’s current annual requirements in cement are 3 million tons. Tajikistan imports some 1.7 million tons of cement per year from Pakistan. Iran and Kazakhstan also provides a large part of Tajikistan’s cement imports, while domestic cement production has considerably decreased in recent years.
Tajikistan’s largest cement plant Tojikcement (Dushanbe cement plant), which has a cement production capacity of 1.1Mt/yr, has not been operational since the beginning of 2013 due to a lack of natural gas supplies. Currently there are five cement plants operational in Tajikistan with a combined cement capacity of 1.3Mt/yr. Over the first five months of this year, Tajikistan has produced 16,900 tons of cement, which is 73,000 tons fewer than in the same period last year. In 2012, Tajikistan produced 235,000 tons of cement, including 203,000 tons produced by Tojikcement.
