KHUJAND, October 13, 2008, Asia-Plus  -- Since the beginning of this year, nine of 232 industrial enterprise located in the northern Sughd province have not been in operation, Sodiq Rustamov, the head of the Sughd industry department, said in an interview with Asia-Plus.

Moreover, many of the Sughd industrial enterprises have worked only 5 percent of their rated capacities.  

“Among the enterprises that have stood idle are two oil-extracting plants, opened joint-stock company (OJSC) Assor and joint-stock company (JSC) Iram in Konibodom, and the milling plant, limited liability company Yurdi Nov, in the Spitamen district,” Rustamov said.

According to him, the Konibodom oil mills have stood idle because of lack of raw materials (cotton seeds).   Cotton farms operating in Konibodom now try to take seeds to the mills that make better bids; the oil mills have failed to endure competition with other enterprises, the industry department said.     

            Yurdi Nov in the Spitamen district also could not endure competition with local smaller flour-milling plants.  “Yurdi Nov is a large enterprise and to start operation alone, it needs 250 tons of grains,” said Rustamov, “The plant administration is seeking way out of this situation and has concluded contracts on grain shipments with Russian producers; the enterprise is expected to resume its work by the end of this year.”