Over 782,400 tons of cement were produced in Tajikistan in the first quarter of this year.
The volume of cement production increased by 356,000 tons compared to January-March of the previous year, according to the profile departments of the country’s economic bloc.
Taking into account the implementation of new infrastructure projects, construction of residential houses, as well as an increase in the volume of imports to neighboring countries, it is planned to increase production of this product compared to last year’s figures.
The main importers of Tajik cement are Uzbekistan and Afghanistan. As many as 172,000 tons of cement were delivered to Uzbekistan. The volume of exports to Afghanistan amounted to more than 131,000, while 19,000 tons of cement were exported to Kyrgyzstan.
In 2017, 3.1 million tons of cement were produced in the country, more than 1 million of which was exported to Afghanistan, Uzbekistan and Kyrgyzstan. The bulk of exports falls on Afghanistan.
At the same time, most of this product is being sold inside the republic and used for the construction of hydraulic structures, roads and bridges, houses and other infrastructure.
At present there are about thirteen cement production enterprises in the country whose capacity allows producing over 4 million tons of cement per year. However, only 5 cement enterprises are engaged in export. Currently, cement of brands 400, 500 and 600 is produced in Tajikistan.
Earlier, it was reported that the internal needs of the republic in cement were estimated at 3-3.5 million tons per year. The cement shortage in the country is covered by imports from Pakistan and Iran.
Tajikistan started deliveries of cement to neighboring countries in 2015. Then, only 500 tons of this construction material was exported. In the current year, the republic not only increased exports, but for the first time completely abandoned the import of cement.
Over the past eight years, China has helped Tajikistan to increase cement production almost 10-fold through investing in the introduction of new facilities.
At the same time, these achievements are of concern to Tajik environmentalists, who believe that an increase in the number of cement plants causes irreparable harm to the environment and the health of the country’s inhabitants. (AzerNews/Business World Magazine)
