On April 26, 2021, Prime Minister of Mongolia Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai received Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Russian Federation to Mongolia Azizov Iskander Kubarovich.

While discussing some timely bilateral issues of mutual concern, the sides at the meeting pledged to ensure active collaboration between Mongolia and Russia amid the pandemic.

In accordance with an agreement established to purchase 1 million doses of Sputnik-V vaccine from Russia, Minister Oyun-Erdene highlighted the importance of the prompt supply of the vaccines and delineating the delivery schedule.

Vowing to pay special attention to ramping up the vaccine delivery, the Russian Ambassador congratulated the Prime Minister and the government of Mongolia for taking proper measures against the pandemic, vaccinating its population within a short period, leading among Asian countries in terms of percentage of the vaccinated population.

Both sides also agreed to develop a detailed plan of events and high-level meetings to be organized on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of Mongolia-Russian diplomatic ties.

Iron ore prices jumped to a fresh high on Monday, supported by structural contradiction of supplies and a shortage in medium and high-grade products, Jinrui Capital analyst Zhuo Guiqiu told Reuters.

“Even the low-grade Super Special Fines with 56.7% iron content is at over 1,200 yuan a tonne, which is more expensive than the most-traded futures contract,” Zhuo added.

Iron ore futures on the Dalian Commodity Exchange, for September delivery, closed 4.3% higher at 1,145 yuan. The contract jumped 6.3% earlier.

According to Fastmarkets MB, Benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China (CFR Qingdao) were changing hands for $193.58 a tonne on Tuesday, up 3.93% from Friday trade.

The high-grade Brazilian index (65% Fe fines) also advanced to a record high of $226.90 a tonne.

Chinese steel futures also closed at all-time highs, underpinned by robust demand and concerns over production curbs.

The northwest Shaanxi province recently urged local departments, as requested by China’s state planner and other authorities, to verify local steelmakers’ crude steel output in 2020 and explain those whose production exceeded designated capacity or didn’t meet it.

Another major steelmaking city Handan in the Hebei province recently issued a notice, asking mills to implement production-control measures in the second quarter.

The measures have sparked concerns of more curbs in the ferrous sector, lifting prices as demand is still strong during the peak season.

The most-active construction rebar on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, for October delivery, rose as much as 4.3% to 5,475 yuan ($843.63) a tonne. It closed up 2.3% at 5,371 yuan.

Top iron ore producers Rio Tinto, BHP, and Vale released disappointing output figures last week. And a weaker dollar is making commodities traded in the currency cheaper to buy.

Aluminum is surging and copper jumped to a 10-year high as commodities advance toward the highs of the last supercycle. Metals are benefiting as the world’s largest economies announce stimulus programs and climate pledges as they rebuild from the coronavirus shock.

“Biden’s new climate promises and at least lip service by China to greener domestic policies are keeping the demand picture rosy,” Tai Wong, head of metals derivatives trading at BMO Capital Markets told Bloomberg.

(With files from Bloomberg and Reuters)

The Japan Sumo Association has decided to hold the first three days of its upcoming tournament in Tokyo without spectators in response to a coronavirus state of emergency.

Association executives on Monday discussed how to organize the 15-day tournament that will start on May 9.

The state of emergency went into effect on Sunday in the capital and three other prefectures. It is set to continue through May 11.

The association said that if emergency measures end on May 11 as scheduled, it will allow spectators at the tournament from the fourth day.

This will be the first time since March of last year that a Grand Sumo Tournament will be held without spectators. Tournaments are held every two months.

Carrie Booth, a translator by trade, at the end of 2020 founded Hero Cashmere, whose offering is billed as “loungewear combining ethics, design and soul” and includes leggings, cardigans and headbands.

She has been working from her base in the Scottish capital with a female-led small firm in Mongolia – and says the country’s goats produce some of the world's most luxurious cashmere.

Hero Cashmere has launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise about £7,000 to help fund a new knitting machine for her Mongolian colleagues. Additionally, the crowdfunder has been selected by Kickstarter as one of its Projects We Love, and closes on May 7.

It comes after Ms Booth visited Mongolia a couple of years ago, and discovered that around 90 per cent of cashmere harvested there is exported for production elsewhere.

The entrepreneur, who is also director of The Translation Booth, said: “I felt that I could put some of my language and communication skills to use in starting this new business. I had made some friendships when I was in Mongolia... and had maintained these. When the time felt right, I decided to pursue the cashmere business and I used my contacts to help me find a supplier.

"Mongolia is not given the chance to shine, and creatives there are left behind. Working from ‘farm to finished garment’, my aim is to keep more of the value chain in Mongolia – and allow creatives to explore their potential.”

“Annual profitability from sheep flock in Mongolia could reach USD 1 billion, which equals to ¼ of the government budget and will definitely help promote the economic growth of the country. Each herder household will become able to directly earn MNT 300 million in a year only with less than 1,000 livestock animals, helping the country’s economy to flourish and triggering market benefits. Mongolians have ample opportunities to become billionaires with its great wealth of growing population of livestock,” noted the team of the Chineeleg Malchin Boijuulakh Tuv NGO, intending to address challenges in the animal husbandry and herders, pastureland degradation, etc. The non-government organization is willing to divert public attention to this area.

Mongolia has been seeking to export meat abroad in the past three decades. The only obstacle is diseases in grazing animals, because of which, foreign quarantine services usually became hesitant to buy meat from Mongolia, leading the problem to persist until now. The problem is often aggravated by Mongolians’ traditional practice in animal husbandry. Particularly, herders spend 4-5 years of hard work and labor to raise their animals which causes overgrazing and wasting their precious time. As an alternative, herders have the opportunity of meat processing of young livestock animals to sell on the market.

Foreigners arriving in Mongolia prefer to eat meat from pasture-raised animals, which perhaps can be found in Mongolia only. Unfortunately, we do not pay much attention or understand this valuable healthy and organic food we have. Some countries misjudge that Mongolian livestock animals are ‘ill’ and it is worth mentioning that there is excessive use of Ivomec injection. Young livestock animals under the age of one are less prone to diseases and their meat is properly considered a healthy and clean product.

The Chineeleg Malchin Boijuulakh Tuv NGO has very well understood the situation and has introduced the ‘Mongolian Lamb’ lamb brand, naming it as one of the solutions to problems in the industry. The brand project – ‘Mongolian Lamb’ has been launched by the Chineeleg Malchin Boijuulakh Tuv NGO within the framework of its ‘Wealthy Herder’ program in cooperation with Mon Ecolamb LLC.

About this, L. Odser, head of Chineeleg Malchin Boijuulakh Tuv NGO told, “We have started to make improvements in the livestock flock structures and ensure supply of animal meat to the market within a short period to make herders businesspeople and producers.”

The ‘Wealthy Herder’ project was carried out to make Gobisumber aimag a model region, with tasks to change herders’ mindset and approach and to breed livestock population with animals with extra vertebrae and with breeds of Barga and Uzemchin for meat production. As a result, the breed quality in Gobisumber’s livestock population has been improved and the live weight of six to seven-month-old lambs averaged more than 35 kilograms. The same works are in full swing in other aimags, such as Umnugobi, Khentii, Khuvsgul, Khovd and Bulgan. Herders in the regions started selling lamb meat through the Chineeleg Malchin Boijuulakh Tuv NGO, followed by Dornod, Sukhbaatar, and Khovd aimags which implemented the program to provide their lamb meat.

Under a tripartite agreement of Chineeleg Malchin Boijuulakh Tuv NGO, Mon Ecolamb LLC and Tsaluut Impex LLC – meat factory, pasture-grazed lamb meat branded as ‘Mongolian lamb’ which are produced to satisfy international quality and health standards with proper packaging are offered on the market. These measures are designed for preventing pastureland degradation that is associated with overgrazing, as well as excessive use of Ivomec, and are aimed at providing residents with organic lamb meat and allow them to build healthy eating habits with domestic food products. Furthermore, herders are given chances to reduce their burden by tending to fewer animals with increased benefits and to enjoy regular income from their livestock flocks. Taking all these into consideration, it is undisputed that the Mongolian Lamb brand is a comprehensive project to bring reform to Mongolia’s agricultural system.

To give an instance, a livestock census for 2020 by the National Statistics Office of Mongolia shows that Mongolia had 67 million livestock animals in 2020 after reaching an all-time high of 70.9 million in 2019. Among them, 4.1 million heads of horses, 4.7 million heads of cattle, 472.9 thousand heads of camel, 30.0 million heads of sheep, 27.7 million heads of goats were counted. Out of the 30 million heads of sheep, there are 14-15 million dams and the remaining 15 million sheep are grazing through pasturelands without yielding any significant benefits and adding work burden on around 230,000 herder households.

“I do not understand people who object to consuming lamb. They never think about millions of livestock animals dying every year,” said Mr.Odser. “In reality, it has been thousands of years since the world first introduced into their diet meat from young sheep in their young or adolescents ages when the meat is the richest in nutrition and minerals. I believe that Mongolia has the potential to make the lamb a global brand and supply to the world countries by way of keeping its basic and traditional animal husbandry production knowledge and making management reforms since the type of pasture-grazed lamb is found only in Mongolia. The world knows that this is a valuable product.”

Translated into Mongolia, ‘lamb’ means the meat of young sheep. From this, Mongolian people imagine a baby animal feeding from her mother when they hear this word. However, in this case, meat from lambs who reached 8-12 months already has the highest nutritional value and contains many vitamins and minerals, and becomes an excellent component of a healthy diet.

About the ‘Wealthy Herder’ program, Mr. Odser said “Each whole meat of sheep provided to us by our partner - meat producers within the program weights up to 17-23 kilograms. This shows our project’s economic viability and capability to provide healthy foods to the population. With around 20 million heads of good quality lambs, we could use 5-6 million of them for domestic meat consumption and export the remaining 14-15 million to foreign countries at an average retail price of USD 10-15. That way 230,000 herder households in Mongolia could earn an annual income of USD 1.5-2 billion could be earned per annum and businesses will grow thanks to the value chain created by the lamb exports. Five to ten times of increase in income of Ulaanbaatar city and other larger residential regions will lead to the promotion of small and medium-sized businesses and manufacturers, helping the country to achieve economic growth.”

“Why ‘Mongolian Lamb’ brand cannot be like a global franchise such as KFC and McDonalds with presence in New York, Tokyo, Moscow, and Beijing. That is our motive – to become a chain that covers the whole world. For example, we are aiming to create brand products that meet every customer's need for pasture-grown eco and clean products, such as Mon Eco Lamb, Mongolian Lamb, Paster, Eco and Premium that are available in every corner of the world. We are ready to overcome all challenges to arise on our way ahead.”

“Arab countries are buying lamb meat from us in recent years. We, ourselves, need to learn to adopt habits of eating clean and healthy foods and give the cleanest food to our loved ones. We need to produce and eat the tender and healthy lamb meats and sell them abroad, this is our ultimate aim.”

N.Saranchimeg

April 26 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia reported 856 new locally transmitted COVID-19 cases in the past 24 hours, bringing its national tally to 31,339, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Monday.

Of the latest confirmed cases, 744 were detected in the country's capital Ulan Bator, which is the country's hardest hit city by COVID-19, the NCCD said in a statement.

The disease has so far claimed 80 lives in the country.

Meanwhile, 1,060 more COVID-19 patients have recovered from the disease, bringing the total recoveries to 16,815, the center said.

The number of coronavirus infections in the country has risen sharply since the beginning of April.

A full nationwide lockdown, aimed at curbing the steep surge in local COVID-19 cases, took effect on April 10 and will last until May 8.

The country launched its mass vaccination campaign against the COVID-19 in late February, with the aim of vaccinating at least 60 percent of its 3.3 million population.

A total of 678,692 people have received vaccines, according to the country's health ministry. Enditem

During a press conference, Deputy Prime Minister, Head of the State Emergency Commission S.Amarsaikhan answered a question regarding the estimated date for fully vaccinating the country’s entire population.

Noting that discussions continue to be held with the side of suppliers despite the import of vaccines as according to plans, he highlighted that vaccinations works are being intensified during the 14-day extension of the current state of 'all-out-preparedness' and associated strict lockdown measures.

According to the Deputy PM, it is planned to fully vaccinate citizens in the capital city by May 5, and involve all citizens nationwide in the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine by May 8.

In order to ensure continuous operations in export regions, vaccinations will also continue to be done in aimags with border crossings. Overall, vaccine rollout in the adult population is currently estimated to be completed between June 1 to July 1 nationwide.

As of currently, 32 percent of target groups have been involved in the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 8.6 percent fully vaccinated.

A virtual roundtable meeting of the agriculture ministers of the East Asia and Pacific region nations was hosted on April 23 by the World Bank. The meeting – attended by representatives of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), ASEAN General Secretariat and a number of other national and international organizations – was on the 2030 Food System under the theme "Building Back Better" in the Asia-Pacific region.

Mongolian Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry Z.Mendsaikhan took part in the meeting and made a presentation about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the country’s food safety and nutrition as well as the policies and reforms taken by the government to overcome the longstanding challenges and strengthening the agriculture-food system.

During the meeting, Minister Mendsaikhan informed that Mongolia is implementing the ‘Livestock Commercialization Project’ with loan financing from the World Bank aimed at improving the health and productivity of livestock and increasing the value of products such as meat and dairy by commercializing targeted value chains in selected locations.

He further noted his proposal on implementing a comprehensive project ‘Green and Competitive Agriculture’ project with MNT 100 million of investment cost. The project is designed for ensuring the adaptation of agriculture and livestock farming to climate change, implementing sustainable development principles and habits to reduce greenhouse gases, and supporting green and responsible agriculture and livestock industries. Agricultural clusters that are adaptable to climate change, green and competitive will also be created with the help of the development of value-added chains, while contributing to the agricultural exchange reform and development of digital agricultural and strengthening of the market infrastructure.

The attracted agriculture ministers of Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Mongolia, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Vietnam, and East Timor, and the attendees discussed issues and explore priority options and actions to ensure the sustainability of food and nutrition security in the region.

The 2021 Spring Meetings of the World Bank Group and the International Monetary Fund and related ancillary events took place virtually from Monday, April 5 to Sunday, April 11.

The Spring Meetings of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the Board of Governors of the World Bank Group (WBG) bring together central bankers, ministers of finance and development, private sector executives, representatives from civil society organizations and academics to discuss issues of global concern, including the world economic outlook, poverty eradication, economic development, and aid effectiveness. Also featured are seminars, regional briefings, press conferences, and other events on the global economy, international development, and the world's financial system.

Representing the government of Mongolia, Minister of Finance B.Javkhlan participated in the plenary session ‘Post-COVID-19 Regional Economic Outlook’ and other meetings and events. Moreover, the Minister held bilateral meetings with Mitsuhiro Furusawa, Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, Victoria Kwakwa, East Asia and Pacific Regional Vice President of the World Bank, Nigel Ray, World Bank Group Executive Director representing Mongolia and Geoff Gottlieb, International Monetary Fund Chief of Staff to Mongolia within the framework of the Spring Meetings.

Throughout the meetings, Minister Javkhlan presented the current state, financial situation, and future outlook of Mongolia’s economy and exchanged views on the government’s comprehensive plan with a total price of MNT 10 trillion for economic recovery and health protection and its implementation.

The Minister highlighted that the government is making all-round efforts for vaccinating its entire adult population in the first place and is also focusing to protect employment amid the pandemic. Furthermore, he requested and called for international donor organizations to revisit and soften some of the requirements set for financial assistance of vaccine supply to the member countries as it would be a huge support for especially the developing nations.

At the aforementioned meetings, IMF and World Bank Group’s representatives praised that the Mongolian Government’s COVID-10 response measures have been effective and prompt and the public vaccination drive and mass testing while imposing lockdown have been swift, as reported by the Ministry of Finance of Mongolia. The sides then expressed their readiness to maintain close collaboration to achieve successful implementation of policies, projects, and programs to carry out in the next several years.

On April 23, a shareholders’ meeting of Erdenes Tanatolgoi JSC was held in a virtual format in line with guidance from the State Emergency Commission and Financial Regulatory Commission due to the coronavirus pandemic. The meeting was live broadcast on the company’s website - www.ett.mn and Facebook page dedicated for ‘Information center of 1,072 shares of Erdenes Tavantolgoi’.

The shareholders meeting was attended by representatives with voting rights from the Ministry of Mining and Government Implementing Agency for Policy Coordination on State Property - holders of the state ownership in the Erdenes Tavantolgoi company, as well as independent members and company officials.

Items on the meeting agenda included board conclusion on the 2020 performance report of the Erdenes Tavantolgoi, a decision on not to pay dividends, changes to the corporate charter, and financing measures for projects and programs.

In 2020, the Erdenes Tavantolgoi JSC sold 15.5 million tons of coal, fully achieving its production target and exceeding its sales target by 111 percent. The company’s sales revenue reached MNT 1 trillion 677.1 billion, net profit totaled MNT 149.4 billion, and contributed MNT 490.1 billion to the state budget. During the reporting period, the company also worked on settling investment financing for the development projects for Tavantolgoi-Zuunbayan and Tavantolgoi-Gashuunsukhait railways and TavanTolgoi Fuel company manufacturing refined coal briquette with the aim of reducing air pollution of Ulaanbaatar city.

Under its five-year business plan ‘A6-20’ on growth goals and targets in coming years, the company is further working to increasing the value of 1,072 shares owned by each citizen of Mongolia, focusing on the production of value-added end products, intensifying infrastructure development projects to improve Mongolia’s competitiveness in the world coal markets, enhancing its contribution in the government’s MNT 10 trillion economic recovery and health protection comprehensive plan and attracting investments through its ETT bonds in order to finance large scale projects.

The meeting also heard a presentation on the company’s board decision not to pay out dividends for its shareholders in 2021 in connection with the increasing the amount of investment to be spent for the development projects as stated in the government’s action plan.

The state-owned Erdenes-Tavantolgoi JSC was established on December 23, 2010, under the respective decisions of the State Great Khural and the Government with a purpose to utilize the Tavantolgoi deposit for the benefit of the citizens of Mongolia. The main objective of Erdenes-Tavantolgoi JSC is to put strategically important coal deposits into economic circulation, conducting mining operations, and implementing infrastructure projects according to Law on Minerals. According to the relevant government decisions every citizen born before April 2012 owns 1,072 shares of the Erdenes Tavantolgoi company.