Nearly one-third of cement produced in Tajikistan over the first three months of this year has been exported.

In January-March this year, Tajikistan has produced some 426,000 tons of cement, which was 52,000 tons more than in the same period last year.  

13 cement plants with total capacity of 4.7 million tons now operate in Tajikistan.  Most of them have been built in recent years with the help of Chinese investors.

Tajik-Chinese joint ventures Huaxin Gayur Cement, Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement and Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement have accounted for 38, 28 and 16.6 percent of the overall volume of cement produced in Tajikistan over the report period respectively.   

Over the same three-month period, Tajikistan has reportedly exported cement to Afghanistan (120,400 tons), Uzbekistan (10,000 tons) and Kyrgyzstan (2,700 tons).   

The exported cement has been produced by Tajik-Chinese joint venture Huaxin Gayur Cement (50 percent), Chzhungtsai Mohir Cement (38 percent), Huaxin Gayur Sughd Cement (9 percent) and TajChina-2013 (3 percent).  

Over the past eight years, Chinese investors have reportedly helped increase cement production in Tajikistan almost ten times as much. 

In 2016, Tajikistan increased its cement production to 2 million tons, an increase of 500,000 tons from 2015, according to the Minister of Industry and New Technologies. This is due to new cement plants opening in Vahdat, Bobojonghafourov and Yovon.

The country began exporting its excess to neighboring countries in 2015.  In 2015, Tajikistan exported 500tons of cement.  In 2016, Tajikistan increased cement exports to 282,000 tons.

By improving the country’s cement sector, Tajikistan expects to become a net cement exporter.  Earlier, Tajikistan imported cement in large quantities from Pakistan, Iran and China.