DUSHANBE, October 6, 2015, Asia-Plus -- Over the first nine months of this year, Tajikistan has produced nearly 760,000 tons of coal, which is nearly 27 percent more than in the same period last year, according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT).

“In January-September last year, Tajikistan produced little more than 600,000 tons of coal,” an official source at a MoINT told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, 653,000 tons of coal have been sold over the first nine months of this year.  

Coal production has reportedly increased due to a shift in the country’s industrial enterprises from more expensive natural gas and electricity to more economical coal for heating and other needs.

Since 2007, more than 150 industrial enterprises in Tajikistan have been shifted to coal, the source said. More than 160 coal-fired enterprises now operate in Tajikistan.

Eighteen coal-producing enterprises now operate at fourteen coal deposits in Tajikistan.  Fon-Yaghnob Mine is Tajikistan’s largest coal-producing enterprise.