Tajikistan produced 4.2 million of cement last year, which was 400,000 tons more than in 2018, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT). In 2018, Tajikistan produced 3.8 million tons of cement.
In 2017, Tajikistan exported little more than one million tons of cement.
In 2016, Tajikistan’s cement exports amounted to little more than 282,000 tons of cement.
An official source at a MoINT says the country’s cement exports last year amounted 1.546 million tons, which was 150,000 tons more than in 2018.
According to him, Tajikistan last year earned 68.1 million U.S. dollar from cement exports.
“Last year, Tajikistan exported 890,000 tons of cement to Uzbekistan, 576,000 tons of cement to Afghanistan and 80,600 tons of cement to Kyrgyzstan,” the source added.
Tajikistan began exporting cement to neighboring countries in 2015 and it exported only some 500 tons of cement in that year.
Last year, Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement, Huaxin Gayur Cement, and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement accounted for some 90 percent of the local production respectively.
Eighteen cement plants now operate in Tajikistan; thirteen of them have a total production capacity of 4.7Mt/yr.
Tajikistan has increased production of cement significantly in recent years due to launching new Tajik-Chinese joint ventures. Over the last eight years, production of cement has increased in Tajikistan nearly ten times.
However, 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.
