Rio Tinto Group’s hold on the title of world No. 1 iron ore producer is safe — at least for another quarter.

Vale SA was expected to overtake its main rival in the fourth quarter, but reported a disappointing 82.5 million metric tons of the steel-making ingredient after heavy rains restricted operations in northern Brazil. That compares with 84.1 million tons for Rio Tinto.

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Vale lost the title of top supplier in the wake of a tailings dam disaster three years ago. After focusing on safety, it has slowly brought back production while Rio Tinto has suffered from its own rain disruptions and the fallout from a cultural heritage fiasco.

Now the two firms are level pegging, even delivering identical 2022 guidance of 320-335 million tons, although Rio Tinto’s is for shipments and Vale’s is for production. In Thursday’s report, Vale kept its 2022 projection despite more rain interruptions last month.

Bragging rights aside, the Rio de Janeiro-based company continues to bang the drum of value over volume, wary of flooding a market that’s still recovering from a rout in the second half of last year after China limited steel output to contain pollution and power use. Bloomberg Intelligence sees global supply contracting this year.

Iron ore bulls may find some support in Vale’s quarterly result, which trailed the 85.6 million-ton average estimate as well as the company’s third quarter and the year-ago result.

Vale is also one of the world’s biggest nickel producers and a significant copper supplier. Production of those two metals fell 5.5% and 17%, respectively, from a year ago, although nickel output surged 59% from the strike-affected previous quarter.

At the regular meeting of the Cabinet today on February 9, Minister of Finance and Acting Minister of Economic Development B.Javkhlan made a presentation on the Prime Minister’s visit to the People’s Republic of China, issues concerning border checkpoints that were discussed in its framework, and its current state.

“During the visit, additional meetings were organized alongside those that were scheduled. This could be considered as a positive outcome of the visit. As instructed by the Prime Minister, a working meeting was held with the Chinese National Development and Reform Commission’s Deputy Chairman in charge of matters relating to Mongolia. At the meeting, we discussed five projects that are of high economic importance.

The issue concerning the expansion of operations at border checkpoints such as Gashuunsukhait - Gantsmod and Shiveekhuren - Sekhee by connecting them by rail, and the railway border crossing points were finalized. We have now entered the next stage of matters, which is the construction of a freight terminal in order to utilize the connection by rail. As the feasibility study carried out by the Mongolian side for the terminal has been handed over to the side of China, meetings that were initially scheduled for late February and early March are planned to be organized on February 15,” said Minister B.Javkhlan.

He also highlighted that the Prime Minister has tasked the corresponding officials to complete the works to renew border checkpoints by the end of the year during the Cabinet meeting.

The number of newly detected COVID-19 cases and the positive rate in PCR test results decreased by 56 and 30 percent respectively compared to the previous week, reported Deputy Prime Minister S.Amarsaikhan during today’s cabinet meeting.

Moreover, 31 percent of the total population and 52 percent of the target population have received the 3rd or booster shot of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Considering the facts that the vaccination rate has reached 50 percent among the target population and COVID-19 infection has relatively decreased, the Cabinet today made a decision to have all types of educational institutes resume in-person classes starting from February 14.

On February 8, Minister of Education and Science L.Enkh-Amgalan announced that the Ministry will work towards the goal of having schools and kindergartens organize in-person lessons as much as possible as a study has recently found that there are 2,000 children in risk of facing disruptions to their education.

“Around 60-70 percent of total students were involved in online classes. As there is a significant number of students that have fallen behind, the Ministry has developed a plan to resolve the situation. According to the students that were involved in the study, 23 percent have reported falling behind in class due to issues relating to technology and infrastructure.

Alongside having all schools return to in-person teaching, it is important to improve the cooperation between the students, their parents, and the schools in order to help students catch up.

The study has also found that parents aged below 40 were significantly better at helping their children with their studies compared to their peers aged above 40.”

Highlighting that schools and kindergartens were re-opened in autumn as the country’s population were sufficiently vaccinated, the Minister said, “The hybrid schedule of in-person and online classes was highly effective. During the time of its implementation, infection cases were detected at 69 kindergartens and 332 schools. However, there were only a very limited number of cases as a result.”

Furthermore, he informed about the Ministry’s plans to have school counselors at public schools starting from the coming academic year as it is considered to be increasingly important to support students during the time of the pandemic.

The iron ore price surged past $150 a tonne on Tuesday as China offered its huge steel industry five extra years of rising carbon emissions.

Steelmaking accounts for about 15% of China’s carbon emissions. On Monday, the government set 2030 as the new deadline for peak emissions for the sector, against an earlier target of 2025.

“This is a big adjustment to the timetable, which gives more room for the steel sector to reach peak emissions in an orderly way,” said Xu Xiangchun, an analyst with researcher Mysteel.

“A rush to meet carbon goals could lead to “unbearable economic costs”, he said.

According to Fastmarkets MB, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $149.64 a tonne during morning trading, the highest since August 31. The metal has rebounded more than 70% from November’s plunge on expectations of steadier growth in 2022.

Iron ore futures in Singapore rose as much as 3.8% to $153 a tonne, the highest level since Aug. 31, and traded at $148.20 by 4:20 p.m. local time.

President Xi Jinping said last month that climate targets shouldn’t compromise supplies of commodities that “ensure the normal life of the masses.”

Related read: China plans to increase iron ore output, boost use of steel scrap

Iron ore price

The policy shift may put China’s overall target of reaching peak emissions by 2030 at risk, according to Li Shuo, analyst at Greenpeace East Asia.

“Traditional sectors such as steel will need to peak much earlier to make space for sectors such as transportation that are still developing.”

(With files from Bloomberg)

In January, the gold purchase of the Bank of Mongolia (BoM) was 1.6 tons. It means the amount of precious metal purchase increased by 312 kg compared with the same period of the previous year.

In January, the BoM branches in Darkhan-Uul and Bayankhongor aimags bought 48.5 kg and 64.1 kg of precious metals respectively.

The average price of BoM’s purchase of 1 gram of gold was MNT 166,244.8 last month.

Minister of Environment and Tourism B.Bat-Erdene is holding series of meetings with representatives of foreign companies. On February 7, the Minister together with Deputy Environment Minister G.Tuvdendorj, Acting Director of the environment ministry’s Tourism Policy Coordination Department A.Enkhbat, Director of Tourism Development Center S.Bat-Erdene met with Turkish Airlines Ulaanbaatar Director Ali Özdemir.

At the meeting, the Turkish Airlines representative said it is possible to add Ulaanbaatar to multi-city package tours from China, Japan, and South Korea to Europe and from Europe to Southeast Asia, which would enable the traveler to tour Ulaanbaatar without much additional cost.

In particular, the airline’s flights which cost USD 992 on the route Europe-Tokyo-Europe could cost additional USD 170 on Tokyo-Europe-Ulaanbaatar-Tokyo route and the cost for flights on Seoul-Europe-Seoul route is estimated to increase by USD 70 if the route is changed to Seoul-Europe-Ulaanbaatar-Seoul.

A 2019 study shows around 6 million tourists from Japan, 8 million tourists from China and 9 million tourists from South Korea traveled to Europe on Turkish Airlines flights. In the same year, the three countries received about 11 million tourists from Europe.

Mr. Ali Özdemir said Ulaanbaatar could be added to the multi-city package tours without any increase in flight cost as well and that he is confident that the tourists would be glad to visit Ulaanbaatar without paying more. “They will be able to see the Central Museum of Mongolian Dinosaurs and Tumen Ekh Ensemble in Ulaanbaatar, and shamanic rituals and buy cashmere products at relatively less prices than in Europe, which will bring economic benefits to not only tourism, but other industries. Most importantly, Ulaanbaatar will have tourists in winter and spring,”

“For example, a tourist going from Europe to South Korea for a 15-day travel could spend three days in Ulaanbaatar on their way,” he added, presenting estimates made in this regard. During the meeting the Turkish Airlines also put forth a request to increase the number of its flights, saying the current regulation limiting seating capacity to 800 seats for three flights per week is affecting tourists. “Turkish Airlines has the capacity to offer flights every day through the year, especially three to four flights a day in summer,”

The airline representative also emphasized the need to liberalize the airline industry in Mongolia, saying that ticket prices became cheaper and Turkey started receiving 60 million tourists after the privatization of Turkish Airlines and that the country’s airline industry expanded thanks to the privatization. “As someone who works in the industry, I would say people now want to see the nomadic culture, not the sea. I am confident that Mongolia will receive a great number of tourist if the industry is liberalized”

Environment Minister B.Bat-Erdene concurred with the airline representative that the liberalization of the industry will pave the way for the arrival of more tourists, saying the economy would expand with more tourist arrivals.

Feb. 9 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 1,192 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, bringing the national tally to 452,882, the health ministry said Wednesday.

More than half of the latest confirmed cases were detected in rural areas, the ministry said, adding that daily COVID-19 infections is expected to increase in rural areas due to celebrations of the traditional White Moon festival or the Lunar New Year.

Meanwhile, three more COVID-19 patients died in the past day, bringing the death toll to 2,062, the ministry added.

So far, 66.7 percent of the country's total population of 3.4 million has received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while more than 1,010,300 people aged over 18 have received a third dose.

In addition, over 85,300 Mongolians have received a fourth dose, which the country started to administer from Jan. 7 on a voluntary basis.

The APO Technical Expert Services (TES) Program engages specialists in a range of topics at the request of member countries for in-country consultancy. TES aims to boost national productivity by providing real-world solutions to problems and assisting member countries and National Productivity Organizations (NPO) in upgrading their technical knowledge and competencies through tailor-made, intensive interventions by experts on diverse productivity issues and challenges. TES projects were recently conducted for Mongolia, Pakistan, and Thailand.

In cooperation with the Mongolian Productivity Organization (MPO), a virtual in-country TES project on Business Continuity and Resilience for SMEs was held 13–15 December 2021. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, many SMEs and other businesses closed or nearly closed in Mongolia. Therefore, the MPO found it crucial to provide training to help SMEs stay productive and be prepared for disruptions. One of its new strategies for productivity improvement and promotion is to assist businesses in being more resilient. This TES project focused on providing skills and knowledge on the most effective productivity tools and techniques for SMEs to prepare for and cope with the pandemic or other external threats. It also provided guidance on developing strategies for SME business continuity, helped the MPO prepare training modules on business continuity, and increased public awareness of the need for productivity enhancement in the new normal. A total of 10 participants from the MPO participated, and two resource persons from Malaysia conducted the sessions.

TES project on Business Continuity and Resilience for SMEs

Another digital in-country TES capacity-building course on Heat-tolerant Wheat for Pakistan was organized with the NPO Pakistan, 15–22 December 2021. A total of 45 participants from the NPO and Wheat Research Institute, Faisalabad, participated in the sessions conducted by two resource persons from the USA and UK. Wheat is the major staple food crop of Pakistan, where estimated per capita consumption is about 124 kg/year. High temperature is a major problem for cropping systems in the country, with unexpected spatial and temporal variations causing reduced plant growth and productivity. To cope with this, the NPO and other institutions initiated a capacity-building program to share the latest know-how for enhancing wheat yield and productivity under the evolving climate scenario. The TES project aimed to create awareness among agriculturists and practitioners of changing climatic conditions and their effect on wheat production as well as to enhance wheat yield.

TES capacity-building course on Heat-tolerant Wheat for Pakistan

The Thailand Productivity Institute (FTPI) intends to conduct an impact assessment for the public sector as it is one channel that can incentivize productivity. The APO and FTPI organized a digital in-country TES workshop on Assessment of Socioeconomic Impacts of Government’s Operations, 29 November–3 December 2021. The program covered all aspects of social and economic impact assessment and evaluation for seven participants from the FTPI Research Department with the support of a resource person from Australia. The workshop developed the competency of participants in socioeconomic impact assessment to enable them to conduct future FTPI research on the topic.