Tajikistan cement exports have increased nearly 2.5 times in recent year, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT).
Cement production in Tajikistan has increased to 774,000 tons in the first quarter of 2018 from 426,000 tons in the same period last year.
The rise has been attributed to new infrastructure projects, increased residential construction and higher exports.
Over the same three-month period, Tajikistan has reportedly supplied 322,000 tons of cement to neighboring countries, which is 189,000 tons more than in the same period last year.
Over the report period, Tajikistan supplied 172,000 tons of cement to Uzbekistan (16.3-fold increase), 131,000 to Afghanistan (8.8 percent decrease) and 19,000 tons to Kyrgyzstan (six-fold increase).
Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Huaxin Gayur Cement, Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement provide the bulk of Tajikistan’s cement production.
Over the report period, Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement, Huaxin Gayur Cement and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement accounted for 33%, 27% and 22% of the local production respectively.
In 2017, Tajikistan produced more than 3.1 million tons of cement.
Meanwhile, such achievements of Tajikistan’s industry evoke concern of ecologists, who consider that excessive increase in cement production may cause irreparable harm to the country’s environment.
According to them, more polluting plants in China are forced to shut down or pay the costs of environmental damage in the wake of new laws and a crackdown on pollution. Cement is one of the world’s most polluting industries, and therefore, Chinese producers have moved excess capacity offshore. The Chinese cement plants mainly use coal for their fuel. The companies reportedly claim that their plants are using advanced environmental and energy saving technology, without specifying exact standards.
