DUSHANBE, November 4, 2015, Asia-Plus – Tajikistan has reportedly broken its coal production record set last year.

Over the first ten months of this year, Tajikistan has produced nearly 885,000 tons of coal, which is nearly 26 percent more than in the same period last year (In January-October 2014, Tajikistan produced 702,000 tons of coal), according to the Ministry of Industry and New Technologies (MoINT).

“Last year, Tajikistan produced 875,000 tons of coal and this amount was considered the largest one over the past thirty-four years,” an official source at a MoINT told Asia-Plus in an interview.

According to him, 782,000 tons of coal have been sold over the first ten 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 200 industrial enterprises in Tajikistan have been shifted to coal, the source said. More than 160 coal-fired enterprises now operate in Tajikistan.

Fifteen coal-producing enterprises now operate in Tajikistan.  Fon-Yaghnob Mine is Tajikistan’s largest coal-producing enterprise.