DUSHANBE, April 9, Asia-Plus – Ms. Sayohat Qodirova, a spokeswoman for the Tajik Aluminum Company (TALCO), says the data on aluminum production in the first quarter of this provided by the Ministry of Energy and Industries (MoEI) do not correspondent to the facts.

We will recall that the MoEI press center noted on Monday that TALCO, which is Tajikistan’s largest industrial enterprise, has produced only 27.5 million somoni worth of output over the first three months of this year.

Meanwhile, MS. Qodirov says TALCO has manufactured US$153.1 million worth of output (74,058 tons of raw aluminum and 73,362 tons of primary aluminum) over the report period, which is 8.0 percent more than in the fourth quarter of 2011.

TALCO is one of the ten largest aluminum smelters in the world and provides up to 70% of the country’s foreign currency earnings, consuming 40% 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.

The construction of the Tajik aluminum plant (TadAZ) began in 1972, and the first pouring of aluminum took place on March 31, 1975.  On April 3, 2007, TadAZ was officially renamed to TALCO – Tajik Aluminum Company.