The background of developed foreign countries shows that the industrial sector plays an important role in the socio-economic development of countries. This is because, the development of industry strengthens the economy of the state, stimulates the development of the agrarian sector, food, light industry and other industries, provides employment for the population, increases family income. Moreover, the industrial sector changes the image of regions, increases the economic potential of the country through the production of agriculture, labour, finance and other resources.
This is precisely why special attention is paid to the development of industry in our country, attraction of investments into this sphere and implementation of new modern projects. Increasing the industrial potential of the regions is especially important for the production of competitive industrial products, socio-economic development of the regions, and employment of the population. Our conversation with Farrukh Khamzaevich SAMADOV, the head of Navoiazot, the largest industrial enterprise in Navoi region, was about the development of the enterprise, its activities today and its role in our economy.
– Chemical industry is one of the important branches of Uzbekistan’s economy. Navoiyazot JSC is the largest enterprise in the field of chemistry in Uzbekistan. It is known that Navoiyazot JSC (former Navoi Chemical Plant) was launched in 1964, and this year marks 60 years since the establishment of the enterprise.
Farrukh Khamzaevich, may this day be blessed for you and the whole staff of the enterprise. At the beginning of our conversation let’s talk about the stages of development of Navoiyazot JSC over the past period, what experience it possesses and its share in the chemical industry of our country.
– Actually, Navoiyazot is one of the largest prominent enterprises in the field of chemistry of our country. The stage of development of our plant can be divided into three. The first one covers the period from 1960 to 1991, when the first stone of the plant was laid. During this period mainly agricultural and defence products were produced, many workshops and production complexes were launched. The first phase of the nitrogen fertiliser plant was commissioned in 1960-65, and in 1965-71 the second phase of the mineral fertiliser complexes was commissioned.
In the 1970s and 1980s, radical changes took place and the production of predominantly organic products –chemical reagents needed for the mining industry – was established.
At the same time, the production of consumer goods was launched during this period. The craft of carpet weaving and carpet-making has been developed in Uzbekistan since ancient times. Khorezm and Bukhara carpets were famous. Nitron Production Complex – 2 complexes for the production of artificial fibre, the main raw material for the carpet industry, were launched.
The period after 1991 there was a period of some stagnation. Since previously all chemical plants worked in one cooperative, there was a break. While raw materials are produced here, components and equipment are imported from other countries. In addition to Uzbekistan, trade in our raw materials is established in neighbouring countries such as Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. After the termination of relations in 1991, instead of defence industry products, our employees began to produce about 30 consumer goods. In the first years of independence, the supply of many imported goods decreased, so their production was started in our country. Many products were launched, from shampoo to toothpaste. Later on, the dynamics of production of consumer goods increased. Until 2000, the production of additional gaseous products (oxygen, argon, carbon dioxide) was established.
In the 2000s, the first major investment project was realised. In association with French and Italian companies, the production of the first caustic soda, chlorine and chlorine-containing products began. First of all, this complex was launched in our country for the purpose of disinfection and destruction of microbes in wastewater and prevention of epidemics spreading. As this plant is the only complex in Central Asia, it has started to meet the demand for chlorine products of 5 countries in the region. As these types of products are considered hazardous, they are expensive and difficult to export or bring from far away. That is why all our neighbouring countries purchased these types of products from Uzbekistan to prevent an epidemic.
It would not be an exaggeration to say that the period after 2016 was the period of the greatest development of the complex’s activities. Because during this period the implementation of 3 very large projects started.
Decrees of the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan dated 17 November 2014, PP-2264, 2015 research projects, 16 December 2014, 2272 ‘on measures to implement investment projects for the construction of complexes for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC), caustic soda and methanol’ and UP-4707 dated 4 March 2015, 2015-2019, on the basis of Navoiyazot JSC,in accordance with the decree ‘On the programme of measures to ensure modernisation and diversification’, the following projects are being implemented in Navoiyazot JSC:
Organisation of nitric acid production at Navoiyazot JSC.
For example, MITSUBISHI (Japan) company successfully cooperated with SAMS Engineering (China) company on the construction of a new complex for the production of polyvinyl chloride (PVC) and caustic soda on the implementation of the project for the production of ammonia and urea, and this cooperation continues today. ‘CASALE SA (Switzerland) company became a reliable partner-investor of Navoiyazot on organisation of nitric acid production.
Investments worth 1.7 billion dollars have been made under the guarantees of our state, and these 3 projects have started implementation. The first complex was put into operation at the end of 2019, and the first products started to be manufactured in 2020. As a result, allocation and localisation of polyvinyl chloride products brought to our republic from China on import basis has been ensured. Based on this currency, it was imported to the amount of 150-200 million dollars per year, but as a result of domestic production stimulated the reduction of imports and the development of domestic producers.
Our second project was launched with a Japanese company at a cost of almost $1 billion and was an ammonia and urea complex. This too was one of the unique projects. In whole Central Asia, there is only one such project in Uzbekistan and another in Turkmenistan. The implementation of this project resulted in full coverage of the domestic market demand for nitrogen fertilisers for farms growing agricultural products. In addition, our export opportunities have also increased. Previously, we exported only ammonium nitrate products, but now we have the ability to export additional urea products. As a result, our export geography has expanded – we are now able to reach almost all European countries, except for our neighbours, Russia and Ukraine.
Our third major project is a nitric acid production complex jointly with CASALE SA (Switzerland). The purpose of building this complex is to ensure that nitric acid, which was produced in our country 60 years ago, is run according to the technologies of that time, and electricity and gas are consumed. This has now been realised with the aim of reducing costs based on energy conservation and reducing environmental damage based on the needs of the time. As a result, both production volume has increased and energy consumption has been reduced by almost 2 times. At the same time, the volume of production increased 4 times. This led to a reduction in the cost of the product.
Similarly, in the launch of the ammonia and urea project, as a result of stopping the old one and starting the new one, energy resources were saved by 2.5 times and production volume increased by 2 times.
In addition to these three projects, a number of joint projects with foreign partners have been implemented as a result of the President’s attention to the sphere. As part of the co-operation that began in 2020, joint ventures have now been set up in co-operation with companies from Austria, Poland and Germany. Our joint venture with Austria has set up production of formalin, sulphuric acid, urea resin and others. These projects were implemented at the expense of foreign investments and own funds of Navoiazat JSC without obtaining 100 per cent state guarantee.
A mining complex and a project for the production of cyanide salts, the main chemical reagent for gold mining, are also being jointly implemented. We plan to complete the project by the end of the year and start production from the new year.
A new direction was our project launched in March this year in co-operation with Alliance Capital KS Sp. z o.o. (Poland). It is known that agriculture is an important sector in our country, a large amount of cotton is grown. We launched a project to produce cellulose products from recycling lead, which is a waste product of cotton. First of all, cellulose is produced. After that, in lieu of cellulose recycling, hydrosil is considered as a product which is the basis for the production of plasterboard used in the construction industry. Tests were carried out together with all industrial enterprises producing construction materials in our country. Co-operation with the German company Knauf has been established and raw materials are supplied. In general, we strive to reduce the share of imports by producing and supplying these products in accordance with the requirements of foreign partners, as well as localising them in our republic.
Another of our projects is the construction of an air distribution production complex worth about 70 million dollars with the participation of Linde Holdings Netherlands No. 3 B.V. Nitrogen, oxygen and argon products are taken from the air. The commissioning of this complex will result in the closure of the air distribution plant, which was commissioned in 1971. This means a 2-fold saving of electricity consumption by 250-300 kW per unit of production. As a result, an average of 25 mW of electricity will be saved per year. The product quality level will also be improved from the present 95-96 per cent to 99.99 per cent. This project is planned to be completed and started up within 2 years.
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