Mongolia registered 1,040 new COVID-19 cases over the past 24 hours, exceeding the 1,000 mark for the first time since Nov. 11, bringing the national tally to 394,797, the country's health ministry said on Saturday.

Among the latest confirmed infections, 45 were imported from abroad, the ministry said.

Less than 400 infections had been reported daily in the country until Tuesday, when the number of daily infections resurged due to New Year celebrations.

The viral disease has claimed 1,997 lives after two more patients aged over 40 died in the past day.

In addition, the Asian country on Friday confirmed its first 12 cases of the Omicron variant.

So far, 66.5 percent of Mongolia's population of 3.4 million have received two COVID-19 vaccine doses, while 934,120 people aged over 18 have received the third dose.

Starting from Friday, the country has offered a fourth dose of COVID-19 vaccine to its citizens on a voluntary basis.

The iron ore price rose on Friday as traders returned from the New Year holidays feeling optimistic about potential demand recovery in China.

According to Fastmarkets MB, benchmark 62% Fe fines imported into Northern China were changing hands for $128.03 a tonne during morning trading, up 0.3% compared to Thursday’s closing, the highest since October 12.

Iron ore’s most-active May contract on China’s Dalian Commodity Exchange ended daytime trading 1.4% higher at 719 yuan ($112.78) a tonne, rising for a fourth straight session and touching 725.50 yuan earlier in the day.

“The current rise in raw materials and the limited production during the Winter Olympics have boosted steel prices to a certain extent, but the demand side is still weak,” Sinosteel Futures analysts said in a note.

China is expected to curb mills’ operations in its steel production hubs to ensure clean air during the Beijing 2022 Olympics next month.

But analysts said hopes for an easing of steel production controls after the Games have helped underpin iron ore, along with some restocking demand ahead of the Chinese Spring Festival holidays starting January 31.

“After the Winter Olympics, there is an opportunity to relax the production limit (for steel),” analysts at Zhongzhou Futures said in a note.

(With files from Reuters)

Nevada-based Allegiant Air has said it will buy 50 new Boeing 737 MAX jets as the ultra-low-cost airline, which mainly relies on used Airbus aircraft, aims to switch supplier and strategy amid a post-pandemic travel rebound.

The jets are worth $5.5 billion and will be delivered in several steps. The airline will take delivery of an initial batch of planes next year, while the remaining deliveries are scheduled throughout 2024 and 2025, Chief Financial Officer Greg Anderson told Reuters on Wednesday.

According to Anderson, the new jets are expected to add seating capacity and 20% fuel savings compared to Allegiant’s older Airbus aircraft.

The carrier reportedly agreed to purchase 30 737 MAX 7 aircraft and 20 737 MAX 8-200 aircraft, making it the launch customer for that larger variant in the US.

The company “has experienced one of the strongest recoveries of US airlines,” Jefferies analyst Sheila Kahyaoglu said, as quoted by the agency, adding that the latest order is evidence of post-pandemic confidence in leisure travel “vastly outperforming corporate travel.”

“With this deal, and these new MAX aircraft, it will provide the ability to grow into 400 more routes,” Anderson said.

For Boeing, the deal is a much-needed boost after two of its key medium-haul customers, Qantas and several affiliates of Air France-KLM, switched to Airbus in December. Shares of the aerospace giant surged 1.3% on the news, while the stock of airline parent Allegiant Travel dropped around 8%.

The 737 MAX was universally banned from taking to the skies after two deadly accidents in late 2018 and early 2019, which claimed 346 lives.

In October 2018, Lion Air Flight 610 crashed into the Java Sea 13 minutes after takeoff, killing 189 people. In March 2019, Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 crashed near the town of Bishoftu just six minutes after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board.

It took Boeing several years to get the troubled aircraft back in the sky by addressing security concerns and obtaining vital approvals from aviation regulators across the world.

I thought I knew what it was to be black in American until I met a reindeer herder in a more remote part of Mongolia. A grandmother there was so fascinated by the three members of the group with dark skin that she pulled us out from the rest of the group and gestured to take a picture.

I could tell the rest of the group felt extremely awkward. Race and culture is a very touchy subject in the U.S. and the conversation about how we continue living with those differences continues. But I realized this wasn’t the U.S. and the attention strangers were paying to my race was about something else.

Taking a step back, I was able to put things into context. For all I knew, I may have been the only black woman in Mongolia at the time. I thought about what my best friend told me to remember before I left home: “Ignorance does not mean harm.” It was not the fault of the young girl in the market that she had never seen anyone that looked like me and wanted to touch my hair. This didn’t make the old woman a bad person because she wanted to take a photo of black people. In her long life, she had never seen anyone who looked like me. It was an exposure that she did not understand because she had never seen it.

As one of three black students on the trip, my biggest challenge was navigating the reaction of people native Mongolians to my race.

Mongolia is a landlocked country between Russia and China and has one of the smallest population densities in the world. The capital Ulaanbaatar is the only major city and the overall population is very homogeneous.

It was my third day in an environment that was still completely foreign to me. We were shopping at the well-known Black Market, a huge flea market in the middle of Ulaanbaatar where you could buy anything from traditional Mongolian deels, a tunic-like garment, to sunglasses and food. It is also a hotspot for pickpockets. That is why I was nervous when I felt something tickle the back of my head. However, as I turned around, I saw a young girl holding onto the bottom of my braid. She wore glasses and a light pink dress. Her family stood behind her, watching for my reaction. I felt shocked and confused, uncomfortable suddenly being the center of attention. In that moment, there was nothing I could do but smile awkwardly. When I look back, I think that even without a language barrier between us, I would have still reacted the same way.

These experiences gave me another purpose in Mongolia. As the only black person the Mongolians who I encountered may ever meet, it was up to me to teach them about my culture. It also broadened my perspective on race outside of the American context, which is all I had ever known up to that point.

Being in Mongolia forced me to learn about cultural appreciation, respecting differences and educating others. I went from feeling singled-out to seeing an opportunity to engage with the Mongolian people in a different, unexpected and important way.

Jadeen Samuels is a senior high school student in New York.

According to the General Customs Administration, total foreign trade turnover has reached USD 16095.8 million, which shows an increase of USD 3220.5 million or 25 percent compared to the same period of the previous year.

The export amount has exceeded the import’s by USD 2398.5 million, showing positive indicator in the foreign trade balance. Exported goods and raw materials amounted to USD 9247.1, 22 percent increase compared to the same period of the previous year.

In the total export, the export of mineral products made up 81 percent, jewelry and precious stones—11.1 percent, plant-origin products—1.0 percent, finished food products—0.5 and textile items 4.0 percent.

In 2021, the country exported crude oil, iron ore, copper and zinc concentrate to only China, and 92 percent of coal to China. 84.6 percent of unprocessed or semi-processed gold was exported to Switzerland, and 15.4 percent-to the South Korea.

Last year, 82.6 percent of the total export was supplied to China, 9.4 percent -- to Switzerland, 2.8 percent – to Singapore, and 2.4 percent --to the Republic of Korea, which means the export to these countries accounts 97 percent of the total exports.

Energy-hungry China is reportedly looking to boost its purchases of natural gas from Russia due to the ongoing trade row with Canberra, which may put at risk deliveries from Australia, China’s number one gas supplier.

China, the world’s largest natural gas consumer, heavily relies on energy imports. In 2020, the country purchased 43% of its gas requirements from abroad, including 89 billion cubic meters of liquified natural gas (LNG) and 46 billion cubic meters of pipeline gas, according to data revealed by the General Administration of Customs.

The trade data compiled by Refinitiv shows that Australia was China’s biggest supplier of gas in the first nine months of last year, followed by the US, another country whose relations with Beijing have been in steady decline in recent years.

A second supply channel with Russia “will partly meet China’s rising demand and also help diversify its imports,” according to Tian Miao, a senior analyst with Everbright Sun Hung Kai, as quoted by SCMP.

Trade and diplomatic tensions between China and Australia have been increasing for several years, especially after Canberra banned Chinese vendors from its 5G rollout. The situation worsened when Australia backed a US call for an international probe into Beijing’s alleged role in the Covid-19 outbreak.

As a result, Beijing has slapped high tariffs on Australian wine, while China’s purchases of Australian coal reportedly dropped by an enormous 89.7% from January-November 2021. The Australian government has retaliated by killing two deals under China’s Belt and Road Initiative between the state of Victoria and China.

Russian natural gas is currently being sent from Far-Eastern Yakutia to China through the Gazprom-operated Power of Siberia pipeline, which first became operational in December 2019. Meanwhile, the projected Power of Siberia 2 gas pipeline is expected to pump 50 billion cubic meters of gas annually to northern China.

“Just as it makes sense for the EU to use [liquefied natural gas] as a political hedge… it makes sense for China to use Russian pipeline gas as a political hedge or backup for its high reliance on LNG – large amounts of which come from Australia and the United States, with whom Beijing’s relations have deteriorated over the past years,” said Henning Gloystein, director of energy, climate and resources at Eurasia Group, as quoted by SCMP.

So far, the ongoing dispute between Canberra and Beijing has not extended to LNG or iron ore. However, Australia received no new long-term supply contract from China in 2021, according to data tracked by market intelligence provider OilChem.net, which also disclosed that some of its market share had been eroded by Qatar, Russia and the US.

Bitcoin will take market share away from gold in 2022 as digital assets become more widely adopted, Goldman Sachs analyst Zach Pandl said in a research note to clients.

Citing bitcoin’s $700 billion market capitalization, compared to the around $2.6 trillion worth of gold owned as an investment, Goldman Sachs said that the cryptocurrency currently has a 20% share of the “store of value” market.

Bitcoin will “most likely” become a bigger proportion over time, Goldman Sachs said, in a list of 2022 predictions.

In a hypothetical scenario in which bitcoin grabs a 50% share of this market, its price would reach just over $100,000, the note said.

Bitcoin was trading around $46,073 on Wednesday, having struggled to make gains after falling sharply in early December. In November, it had hit an all-time high of $69,000.

“Bitcoin may have applications beyond simply a “store of value” – and digital asset markets are much bigger than Bitcoin – but we think that comparing its market capitalization to gold can help put parameters on plausible outcomes for Bitcoin returns,” Pandl wrote.

The term “store of value” usually describes assets which can maintain their worth over time without depreciating, such as precious metals or some currencies.

Goldman Sachs restarted its cryptocurrency trading desk in 2021.

(By Elizabeth Howcroft; Editing by Saikat Chatterjee)

At an irregular meeting today on January 6, the Cabinet approved the strategy and structure of the Ministry of Economy and Development and the Ministry of Digital Development and Communications, which will soon be established.

The Ministry of Economy and Development will consist of seven departments and eight divisions in charge of matters, including policy planning for development, region and industry, development financing, development research and analysis, trade and economic cooperation with 80 job positions.

The Ministry of Digital Development and Communications will consist of six departments and eight divisions in charge of matters such as implementation of digital development policy, communications policy, and cyber safety policy with 87 job positions.

During the meeting, the Communications and Information Technology Authority of Mongolia (CITA) and the National Development Agency have been dissolved.

Jan. 6 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's foreign trade turnover increased to 16.2 billion U.S. dollars in 2021, up 25 percent from the previous year, data released by the Mongolian Customs General Administration showed Thursday.

The country registered a foreign trade surplus of 2.4 billion dollars, said the administration.

Mining products accounted for 81.3 percent of the mineral-rich country's total exports in 2021, it said.