Tajikistan has increased liquefied gas imports despite the rising cost of liquefied gas in Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports, according to the Ministry of Economic Development and Trade (MoEDT).

An official source at a MoEDT says Tajikistan imported 31,500 tons of liquefied gas last month, which was 8,800 tons more than in August.

Over the first nine months of this year, Tajikistan has reportedly imported about 253,000 of liquefied gas.    

Kazakhstan, which provides the bulk of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports, has accounted for more than 70 percent of Tajikistan’s liquefied gas imports.

Over the same nine-month period, Tajikistan has also imported liquefied gas from Russia, Turkmenistan and Kyrgyzstan.  

Tajikistan receives deliveries of liquefied gas by road and rail.  More than 60 percent of the country's motor vehicles use liquefied gas as fuel.

Meanwhile, liquefied gas prices have risen 42 percent this year.  The price of one liter of liquefied gas in Dushanbe has reportedly risen from 2.40 somoni in January to 3.40 somoni, with similar prices rises in other regions of the country.

Specialists from the MoEDT say the price hike has resulted from the rising cost of liquefied gas in Kazakhstan.

Recall that the July 26 decision Kazakhstan’s Ministry of Energy to increase maximum allowed domestic wholesale prices for liquefied gas from 11,034 tenge per ton to 23,106 tenge per ton (343.88 tenge = U.S.$1.00) has led to increase in liquefied gas prices in Dushanbe.