Tajikistan cuts Jan-May aluminium output 18 pct

DUSHANBE, June 5 (Reuters) - Tajikistan, Central Asia's largest aluminium producer, cut aluminium output by 18.4 percent year-on-year in the first five months of 2009, a source at the state-owned TALCO aluminium company said on Friday. The output was 137,649 tonnes, the source said. TALCO has said it was cutting production due to a fall in global aluminium prices. Aluminium exports are a leading source of foreign currency for the impoverished former Soviet republic. Tajikistan plans to produce 377,000 tonnes of aluminium this year, down from 399,450 tonnes in 2008.