Over the past week, the price of one liter of liquefied gas in Dushanbe has risen 3.50 somoni to 3.80 somoni (9.0 percent increase), with similar price rise in other parts of the country.
Suppliers of liquefied gas say the price hike has resulted from the rising cost of liquefied gas in Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports.
According to them, Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy decided on July 1 to increase maximum allowed domestic wholesale prices for one ton of liquefied gas from 82 to 101 U.S. dollars (22 percent increase). This decision has led to a nine percent increase in prices for liquefied gas in Tajikistan.
Last year, Tajikistan imported 350,000 tons of liquefied gas, which was nearly 10,000 tons more than in 2015.
Kazakhstan has reportedly accounted for more than 70 percent of the overall volume of liquefied gas imported into Tajikistan last year.
In 2016, Tajikistan also imported liquefied gas from Russia, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.
It is worth noting that Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports have increased nearly 3.3 times over the past four years – from 82,000 tons in 2012 to 350,000 tons in 2016.
Tajikistan receives deliveries of liquefied gas by road and rail. More than 60 percent of the country's motor vehicles use liquefied gas as fuel.
