Tajik aluminum company experiences setback in production

The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is currently experiencing a serious setback in production.  The company is incurring losses but it keeps silence. 

Over the first ten months of this year, aluminum production in Tajikistan has fallen 23 percent compared to the same period last year.  

According to data from the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT), Tajik aluminum plant has produced 85,600 tons of primary aluminum for a total value of 330.4 million somoni over the first ten months of this year.

Over the same period last year, Tajik aluminum smelter produced more than 110,000 tons of primary aluminum.

In January-October this year, more than 6,800 tons of the aluminum the Tajik aluminum smelter produced over the same period has reportedly been processed into manufactured goods in Tajikistan, which was 1,600 tons more than in the same period last year.

According to the official statistical data, Tajikistan has exported US$108 million worth of aluminum over the same ten-month period, which was 2.6 percent or US$5 million fewer than in the same period last year.  

Aluminum production has begun significantly decreasing in Tajikistan since November 2016.

Representatives of the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT) attribute the setback in aluminum production in the country to an electricity blackout that hit Tajikistan on October 28, 2016. 

The TALCO press center noted on October 30 that the electricity blackout had nearly led to shutdown of the Tajik aluminum smelter. 

Electricity blackout reportedly hit the city of Tursunzoda on October 28 at 6:31.  Barqi Tojik (Tajikistan’s national integrated power company) tried to resume electricity supply to the aluminum smelter at 8:40 pm but it failed.  Power supply was resumed only at 9:30 pm but Barqi Tojik needed another one and a half hours to resume normal power supply to the smelter, therefore, normal power supply to the smelter was reportedly resumed at 11:18 pm.

Damaged caused to the Tajik aluminum smelter by the power outage has been estimated at 8 million U.S. dollars.   

TALCO says it is now capable of introducing 98 additional electrolysis baths into operation.  But…

The TALCO management has decided to postpone installation of the electrolysis baths until February next year.  

The Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO) is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world.  It consumes more than 30 percent of the country’s electrical power.  TALCO is wholly owned by the Tajik government.  Tajikistan does not mine alumina but imports the raw material through tolling arrangements.

Construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975.  THz Tajik aluminum smelter has a rated capacity of 517,000 tons of primary aluminum per year.  On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company.