Iran, Mongolia call for expansion of bilateral ties www.en.mehrnews.com

TEHRAN, Sep. 04 (MNA) – Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammad Javad Zarif and Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Mongolia met in Tehran on Tue. and held talks on expansion of bilateral ties in various fields.

Mongolia's Halal meat exports on the path to growth www.en.shafaqna.com

SHAFAQNA- Mongolia has an estimated 30 million sheep – more than New Zealand – but has until recently only managed to export a thin slice of its overall meat output. It hopes that will change as it taps overseas appetite for halal mutton from places such as Iran.

Mongolian butcher Kuntuguan Ajbai chants under his breath as he slits the throat of a sheep with a single stroke of his sharpened knife, making sure the animal’s swift death is halal – acceptable under the laws of Islam.

Kuntuguan’s work at a slaughterhouse in the city of Darkhan, about 100 miles (160 km) from the nation’s capital, comes amid surging demand from Iran for halal meat and as Mongolia pushes to make more money from the huge herds of livestock that roam its vast grasslands.

“This is a special ritual we do while slaughtering,” said Kuntuguan, a 27-year-old Muslim of Kazakh extraction, his rubber boots and white apron splattered with blood.

“We do it in the name of Allah to get permission to kill the animals.”

Mongolia has an estimated 30 million sheep – more than New Zealand – but has until recently only managed to export a thin slice of its overall meat output. It hopes that will change as it taps overseas appetite for halal mutton from places such as Iran, which are forced to import due to limited local production, Reuters reported.

Largely because of that kind of new demand, Mongolia’s sheep and goat meat shipments hit 2,601 tonnes in 2017, 11 times more than 2016.

And while that was worth only around $8 million, industry officials say those volumes are likely just the start, with exports in the first-half of 2018 quadrupling year-on-year to 775.6 tonnes.

“The halal meat market is growing worldwide, promising new opportunities for Mongolia,” said Ochirbat Begz, executive director of the Mongolia Meat Association.

Pastures of plenty?
Under pressure from the International Monetary Fund to diversify away from mining, Mongolia has been trying to turn its huge pastoral economy into a major earner, hoping its free-range organic meat will find a home on plates overseas.

The plant where Kuntuguan works is run by Darkhan Meat Foods, which along with rival meat producers Max Impex and Max Market is rushing to supply mutton to Iran.

It employs around 200 workers at the site, all involved in halal mutton output, and expects to double its exports of the meat in 2018 from 1,320 tonnes last year.

“Before contracting with an Iranian company, we only exported beef and horse meat to other countries,” said Otgon-Erdene Bavuudorj, the firm’s general manager.

During a visit to the plant by Reuters, around a thousand 18-month old sheep were slaughtered and then deboned, chopped and packed under the supervision of experts from Dana Negah Parsian, an Iranian importing company, as well as the Iranian Veterinary Organisation.

The mutton is then frozen and transported by truck through Russia and Kazakhstan, reaching Iran in about two weeks.

Room to improve
But Mongolia’s nascent halal meat industry faces a number of hurdles on the path to growth.

Seyed Erfan Esfahani, business manager with the Iranian importer, said the country still needed to improve technology at its slaughtering plants and to train more staff.

In order for meat to be deemed halal, the butcher who slaughters animals must be Muslim. Mongolia is predominantly Buddhist, but 100,000 mostly-Muslim Kazakhs account for around 3 percent of its population.

The nation has also struggled with foot-and-mouth disease, with an outbreak this March forcing the government to declare martial law in 12 provinces and distribute 500,000 vaccines.

Mongolia has drawn up new animal health legislation to fight such diseases, with the Iranian importers saying they were doing all they could to guarantee meat they buy is safe.

“I check sheep before slaughtering, and have not seen any major problems with animal diseases, said Hamid Reza Kavosh, head of the veterinary office in Iran’s Khuzestan province, while at the Darkhan plant.

Another problem is the seasonal nature of meat production in Mongolia.

“Putting livestock to pasture is good in the sense that they are free to choose the best grazing area and drink clean water from nature,” said Ochirbat at the country’s meat industry body.

“But importing countries demand regular supplies, which is impossible to meet with pasture, so export-oriented farms need to be developed,” he added.

The reintroduction of trade sanctions on Iran by the United States could also cloud the horizon. Washington has warned there will be consequences for countries that do not respect the sanctions.

But Ochirbat played down such worries, saying it was still early days for halal exports to Iran.

“It’s a little business-to-business trade (at this stage) and not a big international cooperation or something, so it should be okay,” he said

Investors interested in briquettes and coal processing www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ About 3000 representatives of 15 countries and authorities of about 600 companies are attending the ‘Coal Mongolia-2018’ conference. The event also features exhibition of 65 companies.

New academic year starts with absent classes www.zgm.mn

On the first day of academic year yesterday, teachers of 28 public schools in Ulaanbaatar launched a strike as promised. According to some officials, 35-36 schools will be joining the strike today. The duration of strike remains unclear as sources claimed that the rest of public schools will join the strike starting this Friday for an all-out strike. Following the Cabinet’s decision to increase teachers’ salary by 812.3 percent last month, teachers warned of a strike as they have been demanding 50 percent pay raise since last year. Furthermore, health workers’ salaries increased by 8-30 percent and art industry workers by 8-27 percent respectively.

EU removes Mongolia from tax-haven blacklist www.news.mn

European Union finance ministers agreed on Tuesday to remove eight jurisdictions, including Mongolia, from the EU blacklist of tax havens, one month after the list was set up.

Mongolian gold medalist in doping case www.news.mn

Team Mongolia won 10 medals from the Asian Games which took place on 18 August to 2 September in the Indonesian cities of Jakarta and Palembang. However, some Mongolian media sources reported that P.Orkhon, champion of the Asian Games was caught doping. Mongolian state-honoured athlete P.Orkhon won a gold medal at Asian Games after defeating Kyryzstan’s Aisuluu Tynybekov in the women’ 62 kg category of freestyle wrestling.

Business women from 12 countries to convene in Ulaanbaatar www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ The Global Women’s Trade Summit, an annual summit which aims to promote women in business and expand international relations, will be held in Ulaanbaatar on September 6-8.

Foreigners Love This Stock That China Investors Seem to Hate www.bloomberg.com

Few Chinese companies divide the stock market like Ping An Insurance Group Co.

The largest Chinese insurer by market value is 2018’s most popular mainland stock among foreign investors, who have net bought 16.1 billion yuan ($2.4 billion) of its Shanghai-traded shares, according to Bloomberg calculations. That’s more than for any other company via trading links between Hong Kong and the mainland.

On the other hand, it’s being ditched in Hong Kong by Chinese investors. They’ve sold more Ping An shares there than any other company this year apart from Tencent Holdings Ltd., and they’re also selling onshore. Ping An’s Hong Kong-listed shares are down 6.7 percent in 2018 versus the Hang Seng Index’s 7.3 percent decline, while its mainland-traded A shares have fallen 10 percent compared with a 18 percent drop in the CSI 300 gauge.

“Views are diverging between mainland and foreign investors toward Ping An,” said Steven Lam, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Many foreign investors not only value the stock as an insurance company, but a fintech player.”

Ping An said last year it aimed to eventually get half its earnings from technology, a development that could make investors rethink their valuation methodology on a traditional-economy stock. The company’s stock-market capitalization climbed $101 billion last year, partly thanks to its investments in online services.

Analysts seem to side with foreigners. The stock has no sell ratings and their average price target implies it will climb at least 30 percent in both Hong Kong and Shanghai over the next 12 months from Monday’s close.

“It’s the best Chinese financial company to institutional investors,” said Vincent Hsu, a Taipei-based fund manager at Fuh-Hwa Securities Investment Trust Co., who has been buying shares over the past few months. “Lots of foreign investors are buying Ping An, as the stock ranked top in the criteria valuing a company’s business, investment and capital.”

Ping An’s management has repeatedly said the share price doesn’t fully reflect the value of the company, which spans insurance, banking and asset management. The conglomerate reported a 34 percent net profit increase in the first half, helped by a jump in fintech and health-care business.

Ping An’s shares on the mainland have been cheaper than those in Hong Kong since June. Its yuan-denominated securities trade at 9.6 times forward 12-month earnings, while its H shares are at about 10.5. By contrast, technology shares on the CSI 300 Index trade around 21.8 times.

“The fact that Ping An’s A shares aren’t substantially more expensive than H shares is a reflection of the hesitation for domestic investors to give more credit to its fintech story,” said Daiwa Capital Markets Hong Kong Ltd.’s Leon Qi, the only analyst who doesn’t rate Ping An a buy.

The combined stake of mainland investors in Ping An’s Hong Kong-listed shares is close to a one-year low, while foreign investors hold the most A shares since at least March 2017, according to Bloomberg calculations based on exchange data.

Chinese investors may have chosen to sell liquid heavyweight companies such as Ping An as general sentiment turned against Hong Kong stocks and there was a rush to exit, said Christine Wu, vice president at Yuanta Securities Investment Trust.

Hengsheng Asset Management Co. fund manager Dai Ming echoed Qi’s views on fintech doubts. “It’s still a bit early to say Ping An’s tech ambition will be realized,” he said. “Conglomerates like Fosun also have such ambitions to develop fintech, but the results haven’t been very satisfying.”

Earnings of Ping An’s online lending platform Lufax could slow, Shanghai-based Dai said. He remains bullish on Ping An though, mainly because of its advantage in the insurance business. It is the only Chinese insurer that managed to keep new business value growing this year while other life insurers were more affected by tightening measures, he said.

“The divergence between China and foreign investors is a result of two different investment styles,” Dai said. “Mainland investors tend to value a stock based on a shorter-term outlook.”

Mongolia earns 55 mln USD from crude oil exports to China www.xinhuanet.com

ULAN BATOR, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia has exported most of its crude oil production this year to China, adding 55 million dollars to the state exchequer, the Ministry of Mining and Heavy Industry said on Monday.

Mongolia has fuel reserves for only 38 days www.news.mn

The price of fuel have been increasing since January, 2018. For example, the most common used fuel in Mongolia, A-92, is currently being sold at MNT 1820. As for 28 August, our country has oil reserves for approximately 38 days; A-80 for 119 days, A-92 for 25 days, diesel for 38 days and TC-1 aviation fuel for 28 days.