Ore with 62% content in the port of Qingdao dropped 2.6% to $61.01 a tonne, according to Metal Bulletin.

The most-traded iron ore on the Dalian Commodity Exchange dropped 2% to 440 yuan per tonne, adding to Monday’s 2.1% decline. Earlier in the session, the contract fell as far as 434.50 yuan, its weakest since July 6.

Benchmark Australian iron ore fines dropped 4.1% Tuesday to a three-month low of $59.1 a tonne, based on data provided by The Steel Index, taking losses since the start of September to more than 20%.

Iron ore dangerously close to $60 a tonne
It means that the January 2017 iron ore contract is now sitting at the lowest level since mid-July. Further falls are predicted to around $50 a tonne by 2019 as China also plans to revoke about a third of its iron ore mining licences, mostly belonging to small polluting operations.

At the same time, supply from Australia — the world’s No. 1 iron ore producer — has risen, further pressuring prices.

The latest disclosure comes after Japan’s No.3 steelmaker said on the weekend it had falsified data to show that its aluminum and copper products had met customer specifications, and suggests the problems could be widespread.

Japanese manufacturers were thrown into turmoil by the revelation, with implications for materials used in cars, aircraft and possibly a space rocket and defense equipment.

Shares in Kobe Steel were down 15.73 percent at 900 yen as of 0114 GMT on Wednesday, underperforming the broader market which was steady. They fell 22 percent the previous day.

A Kobe Steel spokesman confirmed a report on Wednesday in the Yomiuri newspaper saying the firm may have fabricated data on iron powder products used in components such as automotive gears. He said the company was investigating the issue.

The Nikkei business daily meanwhile reported that Kobe Steel intended to put its real estate business on the block in an effort to shore up already shaky finances now threatened by the data falsification scandal.

The Kobe Steel spokesman said he could not comment on that report.

Kobe’s data fabrication problems are the latest in a series of industrial missteps undermining Japan’s reputation for high-quality production.

The BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) have agreed a cryptocurrency is a tool without a legal definition, which has an ambiguous economic nature and does not allow regulators to protect investors, according to First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia Sergey Shvetsov.

“We have seen how bitcoin has transformed from a payment unit into an asset, which is bought in order to obtain a high yield in a short period of time. This is a definition of a pyramid,” he said.

Even those who have significant investments in bitcoin admit that there is not much money in the system, it has low liquidity, and it is almost impossible to get out of the system.

Shvetsov said that in Russia there is a procedure for blocking access to sites which encourage investment in financial pyramids. He admitted there are a lot of them, and the process is not easy.

"There is a permanent job of blocking malicious sites that involve Russian citizens in financial pyramid schemes. Everything that contradicts or violates Russian law, or creates unfair competition, will be limited," he stressed.

Russian authorities said earlier this year they would like to regulate the use of cryptocurrencies by Russians by limiting access by the general public.

The firm’s decision to exit Mongolia comes following a strategic review of the market. Hogan Lovells’ office managing partner in Ulaanbaatar Chris Melville will establish a new independent firm in the Mongolian capital with the existing team of 15 lawyers and staff. Hogan Lovells will form a co-operation relationship with the new firm in a bid to continue servicing its clients in the country.

“Following a review of the market and our investment priorities, we have taken the decision to close our Ulaanbaatar office,” said Hogan Lovells global CEO Steve Immelt.

Hogan Lovells gained an Ulaanbaatar presence when it entered a formal association with Mongolian outfit GTs Advocates in August 2010. It was also the first global firm to set up a permanent presence in Mongolia, and has operated there since 2011 advising on inbound corporate investment work and foreign investment in the infrastructure and natural resources sectors.

“Global and local markets and the strategic priorities of the firm have changed since then. I strongly believe that we have a good practice, an excellent team, and that there are opportunities that we can take advantage of operating from a different platform, including working with Hogan Lovells in the future. We are excited about the next chapter,” said Melville.

Melville was relocated from London to the Ulaanbaatar office in 2012, working with the then office managing partner Michael Aldrich.

A very small number of other international firms continue to have a presence in the country, including DLA Piper, which entered the Mongolian market via a local tie-up with C&G Partners in 2011, and Dentons – thanks to its merger with Chinese firm Dacheng, which set up an office in the city in 2013.

But, for a long time, Mongolians have not seen the benefits of possessing this precious resource. Foreign traders bought the raw material and processed it abroad, so the economic upside took a detour out of the country.

This is why the EBRD teamed up with the European Union and the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to add value across the whole production cycle – from the local farmer to exporters in Ulaanbaatar.

Sustainable farming

The story of a beautiful cashmere scarf starts in the picturesque hillside of the north-western Khövsgöl Province. The sight could not be more different from the glitzy lights of Ulaanbaatar: it is a land of animals covered in fur, not man, whom they outnumber by a healthy 25:1.

Batulzii is a local farmer who lives with his wife and young children in a traditional yurt. Cashmere goats are shorn in May, followed by sheep, he explains. They naturally start to shed their wool in June and if he does not cut it, it simply falls to the ground.

It is the first part of the chain where we strive to add value to the wool production. FAO offers training to farmers, from grassland management and providing the right feed to the animals to the relevant sustainable industry standards.

“After cutting the wool, I sell it to the Leader Cashmere factory,” Batulzii explained. “This is how I earn a living.”

Following the meeting, the Mayors signed a cooperation program for 2018-2020 in accordance with principles reflected in the Protocol on Ulaanbaatar-Moscow friendly cooperation, which was signed on February, 26, 1996.

In accordance with the cooperation program, the sides will strengthen their cooperation in the fields of urban planning, architecture, housing, public untilities, urban development, education, health and archive.

Present at the meeting were S.Delgermaa, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Mongolia to the Russian Federation, M.Otgonbayar, Head of Ulaanbaatar Governor’s Office, S.Odontuya, Governor of Bayangol district, S.E.Cheremin, Minister of the Moscow Government and Head of the Department for External Economic and International Relations of the Moscow Government.

The formerly Ruakaka-trained son of Fastnet Rock is on the comeback trail after suffering an injury in the Gr. 1 New Zealand 2000 Guineas at Riccarton last November.

“He’s been here with us for about three weeks now,” Forsman told www.theinformant.co.nz. “We’re just getting him ticking over at the moment and giving him some time on the water walker.

“He’s coming off a long rehab and he’s had knee surgery. He’s still a colt and it’s a matter of keeping him in one piece and giving him all the time he needs.”

Baker and Forsman are familiar with Mongolian Falcon, having saddled their subsequent Australian Derby winner Jon Snow for a second placing when the colt scored a five-length win in last year’s Gr. 2 Hawke’s Bay Guineas.

Owned by the Inner Mongolia Rider Horse Industry, Mongolian Falcon was trained by Donna Logan and Chris Gibbs to record three wins and four placings from nine starts for prize-money of $128,250.