Tajikistan to increase production of aluminium this year

Tajikistan’s Minister of Economic Development and Trade, Sharif Rakhimzoda declared that the country plans to increase its aluminium output to 190 thousand tons from the 121 thousand tons produced the previous year.

The ministry had declared an estimated production of 150 thousand tons of aluminium last year but the target could not be fulfilled as the aluminium prices started falling globally in 2014, with an average price of $1,870 per ton. The minister said, Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO) has joined hands with the Norwegian aluminium producer Hydro and together they will be able to improve TALCO’s production and sale of the metal.

TALCO is the largest state-owned aluminium producer in Tajikistan with the overall capacity of producing 500,000 tons of aluminium per year. The company is a prime entity in the country’s economy contributing 45% to the GDP and 90% to the foreign exchange earnings. In 2014, Tajikistan exported 125 thousand tons of aluminium earning a total of $234 million.

On January 14, an agreement between the Tajik government and the Export-Import Bank of China was approved by the Tajik parliament allowing the concessional loan required for constructing a cryolite plant, an aluminium fluoride plant and a sulphuric acid plant as a part of TALCO’s modernization plan.

The modernization and reconstruction project is expected to cost $125.5 million of which $38 million is being paid by TALCO and the rest is being provided by the Chinese Eximbank.