DUSHANBE, March 20, Asia-Plus -- Frequent electricity supplies disruptions have affected the country’s commodity market, where raw or primary products are exchanged.

Abdurahmon Bahromov, the head of the department for trading in farm produce of Tajikistan’s Commodity and Raw Material Exchange, said in an interview with Asia-Plus that electrical power shortages had affected work of cotton-processing enterprises in the country that, in its turns, led to decrease in trade in cotton fiber this month.

However, the country’s commodity exchange last month concluded bargains on trading in cotton fiber for a total amount of $17.9 million.  “In February, 15,273 tons of cotton fiber were realized through the commodity exchange, which is $12.3 million or 10,756 tons more than in January 2007,” Bahromov said.  

In all, the exchange in February concluded 133 bargains for a total amount of $21 million against 109 bargains for $14.9 million concluded in January, the Commodity Exchange official said.   

According to the State Committee for Statistics, Tajikistan last year produced 440,245 tons of raw cotton, and 143,000 tons of cotton fibers were projected to be yielded from the last year’s cotton harvest.  Some 53,000 tons of raw cotton of the 2006 harvest have to date remained unprocessed.

In all, 14 cotton-processing enterprises currently operate in Tajikistan.  The largest of them are joint-stock company (JSC) Tajiktextiles as well as joint ventures Kabool-Tajik Textiles and Javoni.