Turkmenistan has reduced its cement imports from Turkey in the first five months of 2021. The cost of imported cement decreased by 4.7% to USD 8.216 million. At the same time, in May, the country purchased Turkish cement for 2.691 million US dollars, which is 2.7 times more than in May last year.
President of Turkmenistan Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov has repeatedly demanded that government members increase the production of their own building materials, including cement.
In March 2020, the state information agency TDH reported that domestic cement plants have almost completely solved the problem of providing cement for large-scale construction ongoing throughout the country.
A year later, in March 2021, Deputy Prime Minister Shamukhammet Durdylyev, in charge of the construction and industrial complex, reported to President Gurbanguly Berdimuhamedov on the construction of cement plants in the Bakherden etrap of the Akhal velayat and in the Koytendag etrap of the Lebap velayat, each is planned to produce 1 million tons of cement a year. Nevertheless, Turkmenistan continues to import cement from Turkey and Iran.
