As part of his working visit to the southern Khatlon province, President Emomali Rahmon yesterday visited Yovon district, where he attended an official opening ceremony of the enterprises for the production of nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers built there by TALCO Chemical LLC, according to the Tajik president’s official website. 

The production capacity of the new fertilizer plant is 200 tons per day and 75,000 tons per year.  

The raw material - phosphorus powder – is imported from abroad and sulfuric acid is produced at TALCO Chemical LLC itself.  In the future, raw materials will be delivered from a local mine located in Panjakent (Sughd province).  

Before this, mineral fertilizers were imported from abroad and were very expensive.   It was the high cost of fertilizers that led to a decrease in demand for them in the internal market.  

TALO Chemical LLC offers its mineral fertilizers at 2,000 tons per ton, which is which is reportedly 2.5 times cheaper than the market price.  

Meanwhile, the debt-ridden and loss-making fertilizer plant located in Levakant has not yet been reintroduced into operation. 

Khatlon governor Qurbon Hakimzoda addressing regional administrators in Bokhtar noted on January 29 this year that Open Joint-Stock Company (OJSC) Azot (formerly TojikAzot) will be reintroduced into operation this year.   

Current average price for a 50-kilogram sack of carbamide (urea) in Tajikistan is 420 somonis.  

The new owner of OJSC Azot is Osiyo Chemical Company.   

This fertilizer plant has not been in operation since 2008 due to lack of natural gas supplies.  Until 2008, when neighboring Uzbekistan upped the price of natural gas, a key input for the factory, TojikAzot served as a foreign investment-success story for Tajikistan’s economy.

According to some experts, Tajikistan’s annual requirements in mineral fertilizers are about 800,000 tons