Tajikistan¡¯s Q1 aluminium output dwindles on metal¡¯s low price

Tajikistan Aluminium Company (TALCO), Central Asia's largest aluminium smelter, cut output by 39.5 percent in annual terms to 36,000 tonnes in January-March, the Economy and Trade Ministry said on Tuesday.

The fall in output in the first quarter is largely in line with TALCO's pessimistic outlook published in February, which forecast aluminium production to shrink by 30.7 percent to 150,000 tonnes this year.

"The reason behind falling aluminium output is a decline in world aluminium prices, which in turn does not allow the smelter to increase production because the low price for the metal makes this unprofitable," the ministry said in a statement.

Hit by low aluminium prices, TALCO was forced to reduce output by 20.6 percent to 216,369 tonnes in 2013.

Lower output has made redundant 20 percent of the smelter's personnel, which now stands at 8,300. Aluminium is a major export earner in Tajikistan, the poorest of the former Soviet republics.

Its population of eight million includes more than one million migrants working abroad, mainly in Russia.

Aluminium exports, which account for around a third of all Tajik exports, tumbled by 41.5 percent year-on-year to $67.9 million in the first quarter of this year, declining for 32 consecutive month.

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