The number of COVID-19 infections has risen to 328 in Mongolia after one more Mongolian citizen tested positive for the virus, the country’s National Centre for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said on Thursday.

All 328 confirmed cases have been imported; among them, 312 patients have recovered from the disease.

Mongolia has not reported any COVID-19 related death or local transmission so far.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Ulaanbaatar city’s Property Management and Administration Department announced on October 20 a public auction sale for Khangarid Palace, currently owned by the Capital City Governor’s Office.

The minimum opening bid is MNT 43,423,400,000. Bidders must place a deposit equal to ten percent of the starting bid – MNT 4,342,340,000 to the State Fund account of Ulaanbaatar city prior to the auction, which will take place on November 20, 2020.

Built in 2008, the 15-story Khagarid Palace is a purpose built office located in the very heart of Ulaanbaatar city and has a total area of 9774.7 square meter and parking spaces for 10 automobiles. The building currently houses the Capital City Governor’s Office and other government organizations under the administration of Ulaanbaatar city.

The right to own the Khangarid Palace was granted to the Capital City Governor’s Office in 2014 upon a resolution by the Ulaanbaatar city Mayor and Governor.

In April 2018, then-Mayor of Ulaanbaatar city S.Batbold was ordered by the chairs' meeting for the Citizens’ Representative Khurals of Ulaanbaatar to launch study and develop a plan on moving the Ulaanbaatar city administration from downtown to Yarmag area in the far western part of Ulaanbaatar city’s Khan-Uul District in a bid for decentralization.

And the construction development for a new complex building for administration of Ulaanbaatar city had started around that time in the Yarmag. It has been previously reported that the new complex building would serve as the headquarters for offices of the Citizens’ Representative Khural of Ulaanbaatar city, Governor’s Office, over 30 departments and agencies of Ulaanbaatar city.

In November 2019, the Citizens’ Representative Khural (local council) of Ulaanbaatar city decided to privatize several government properties through auctions, including the Khangarid Palace, former buildings for administrative offices of Khan-Uul and Sukhbaatar districts and others.

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Quality certified insulation market is being created in Mongolia by the European Union’s Switch Off Air Pollution project. In the past, Mongolian people went to black market to buy insulation materials, mostly non-certified materials and do it themselves without following the Building Code Standards which in return ends up being not very efficient, often becoming a waste of resources. And this has been the common practice of “insulation” for Mongolians until now.

However, Switch Off Air Pollution project is trying to replace that common practices definition by certified insulation by putting together a market, where it links the customers or the ger area dwellers living in detached houses, with: good certified suppliers; project specialized energy advisors, MSMEs or craftsmen, financial institutions working with green loans; and certified energy auditors that warranty the quality of the work performance.

The project is forming a market mechanism with a demand and supply chain. It does not only benefit the public, but it also aims to guarantee fair and attractive revenue to all the actors involved to ensure sustainability. Based on the needs and financial availability of the customers, the project offers different insulation options. If insulated fully by the project, the house can be 70% energy efficient decreasing heat loss in the house by the same amount. The engineering behind this innovative service began with an well-structured baseline study to understand the market incentive and continuous research and adaptation based on arising needs.

The insulation market system works as follows:

House will be assessed by the energy advisors, who then will give insulation price offer depending on tailor-made options for the person’s house. The household can choose to pay by themselves or apply for Xac bank green loan at 8% of interest. If the person is eligible for the loan, the contract will be signed to indicate the beginning of the insulation work. Materials will be supplied and craftsmen will do it within a week. Once the insulation work is done, energy advisor will do the quality check and energy auditor will compute the energy audit. The person is eligible for green loan if they can prove their income by their social insurance book or tax record.

In order to simplify the process, families can go to www.dulaalga.mn to enter their house measurements and receive preliminary cost calculation of desired insulation and place on order for technical assessment by the energy advisors.

Up until now, there was little knowledge among the ger district residents that insulation plays a key role in energy efficiency thus leading to air pollution reduction. Therefore, the project is aiming to raise awareness on the energy efficiency and cost saving that properly done insulation can bring to households and disseminate knowledge to the people. Not only does the project raises awareness on the importance of good quality insulation, it also sees the lack of good quality insulation adding to the air pollution problems in Ulaanbaatar and hence it properly insulates houses to decrease the coal consumption in order to decrease air pollution in the short and medium term.

Accordingly, technical procedures including Technical Assessment and Quality implementation check form developed by the Switch Off Air Pollution project, were included in the newly amended Construction Codes and Standards on Building Envelope Thermal Insulation of Mongolia, that will come into force on January 1, 2021.

Switch Off Air Pollution is a pilot project with an aim to involve more actors in the future to develop the certified insulation market in the coldest capital city in the world.

About Switch Off Air Pollution:

Co-financed by the European Union under the Switch Asia programme, with additional support from Abbe Pierre Foundation, Czech Development Agency and the French Development Agency; the Switch Off Air Pollution project is being implemented by Geres Mongolia, in collaboration with Building Energy Efficiency Center of the Mongolian University of Science and Technology, Mongolian National Construction Association and People in Need INGO during the 2018-2021 period.

Project website - www.dulaalga.mn, and mobile application - Dulaalga on iOS and Android

About Geres Mongolia:

Geres is an international NGO with expertise in energy and development, with over 40 years of experience in Europe, Africa, and Asia improving living conditions of the people and fighting against the impacts of climate change.

Source: Geres Mongolia

The first batch of 4,000 live sheep from Mongolia to Wuhan, Central China's Hubei province, arrives at Erenhot Port in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, on Oct 22, 2020. [Photo by Guo Pengjie/for chinadaily.com.cn]

The first batch of 4,000 sheep from Mongolia's total donation of 30,000 live sheep to Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province that was hit hard by COVID-19 earlier this year, arrived in China on Thursday.

The sheep entered the country at Erenhot Port in North China's Inner Mongolia autonomous region, where they will undergo quarantine and inspection and will be slaughtered and stored within 14 days before they are transfered to Hubei province. A handover ceremony was held simultaneously in Zamyn-Uud in Mongolia and Erenhot.

To complete the transportation and handover, the Mongolian government has allocated $1 million through a special fund.

Sheep is the symbol of wealth and status in Mongolia, a nation dominated by animal husbandry. Donating sheep represents the best wishes of the Mongolian people.

"During a time of disaster, those who can put meat on your plate are not always the rich, but they must be anda (the Mongolian word for siblings)," this Mongolian proverb best captures the spirit of "a friend in need is a friend indeed".

Mongolian President Khaltmaa Battulga, the first foreign head of state to visit China since the COVID-19 outbreak, offered the donation of sheep to China during his one-day visit on Feb 27.

All sheep completed a 30-day quarantine before they were transported to China.

The Mongolian government on Wednesday, October 21, stated that it will augment the number of policemen throughout the country to stop violence and improve protection of children.

Tseden-Ish Ganzorig, leader of the government's press office, stated in a report that "In order to prevent any violence and crimes against children, the Mongolian government has decided to increase the number of child protection police officers by 103".

He added that there will be one child protection policeman for every 8,000 children.

Problems linked to child protection and family violence have become a hot subject in Mongolia after a nine-year-old girl has lately been hit to death by his stepfather.

Widening restrictions on the participants of the Nord Stream 2 gas pipeline constitute the “egregious use of the sanctions weapon” targeting both Russia and the US’ loyal ally Germany, former British MP George Galloway believes.

“Germany is not some banana republic in Central America,” the politician told RT’s Boom Bust. “This is an act just short of war against Russia, seeking to destroy something on which billions have already been expended, and which is the sovereign will of two sovereign European countries and for the most bogus of pretexts.”

Galloway noted that Washington’s extraterritorial sanctions and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo’s “bullying” of American allies in Europe are the reasons why the US is “so poorly regarded.”

Despite the US’ sanctions pressure, Germany is unlikely to ditch the project, as the country needs cheap and stable supplies of clean Russian gas, the former MP believes.

“I believe that [German Chancellor] Angela Merkel will stick to her guns. If she’s been quiet over these last few weeks, she is probably waiting out the results of the US presidential election,” he said.

Ulaanbaatar / MONTSAME /. The fifth meeting of the Ministers of Tourism of Mongolia, Russia and China was held virtually yesterday, on October 20. The meeting was organized at the initiation of the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia, focusing on revitalization of the tourism industry, which suffered the most from the global outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic, and establishment of joint tourist itineraries and expansion of cooperation within the sector.

The representatives of the sector headed by Minister of Environment and Tourism of Mongolia D.Sarangerel, Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia Z.V.Doguzova and Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China Zhang Xu participated in the meeting.

Minister D.Sarangerel underlined the wide range of potential cooperation opportunities between the countries, including joint development of sustainable tourism, exchange of mutually beneficial experiences and information, establishment of joint tourism itineraries, etc. “Mongolia, for the first time, identified tourism as its leading sector of the economy. Although the sector has stagnated and suffered significant losses due to the pandemic, we have taken advantage of this opportunity to improve our tourism infrastructure, quality of services and capacity building. At today’s meeting, I am pleased to discuss further joint projects and programs of the three countries and to implement effective initiatives” she added.

Head of the Federal Agency for Tourism of Russia Z.V.Doguzova said, “The tourism industry is not only a significant industry to the economy but also it strengthens friendly relations and cooperation between the countries and its people. In this regard, we have great untapped cooperation opportunities as neighboring countries. Last year, 141,927 Russian tourists visited Mongolia which shows an increase of 9.9 percent compared with the same period of the previous year. We are hoping to continue to work together effectively without losing this growth”.

Vice Minister of Culture and Tourism of China Zhang Xu said, “We are going through a difficult time amid the pandemic. The tourism industry has been shaken as a whole and in a hardship. Regardless of this situation, our country is trying to turn this hardship into a new opportunity. Particularly, we are striving to expand domestic tourism. I would also like to emphasize that new policies and programs in this direction are being developed and implemented in our country. Aside from traveling and having fun, tourism also plays as a bridge for the dissemination of culture which is the basis for strengthening friendly relations between the countries. Therefore, I hope that the decisions and proposals to be made at today’s meeting will be implemented and bring results”.

Minister D.Sarangerel brought up a number of proposals during the meeting. For instance, to set up a joint working group to develop a plan to maintain the growth in the number of tourists traveling between the three countries after the risk level of the pandemic drops to minimal; to develop and implement a joint plan to intensify mutual training of specialists, promotion and other marketing activities in the three countries, etc. In addition to the proposals, the representatives of Russia and China were asked to provide support to the operations of Mongolian aviation companies and the sides responded positively to the proposals and expressed their readiness to provide support.

HOHHOT, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The Erenhot China-Mongolia border trading zone in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region has reopened after months of closure due to COVID-19, according to local authorities.

With a total investment of 350 million yuan (about 52.5 million U.S. dollars) and an area of some 100,000 square meters, the trading zone in the city of Erenhot covers a wide range of business activities including border trade, logistics and e-commerce, among other cross-border business services.

The reopening also marked the launching of the processing of agricultural products and livestock upon entry to the zone, which was designated by the Chinese government in September as Inner Mongolia's only trading zone allowed to engage in processing work.

"With the first batch of goods entering the zone, we are going to see a gradual recovery of bilateral trade through Erenhot and an increase in trade volume here," said Mengkee, deputy chief of the Erenhot Bureau of Commerce, who is also in charge of the management of the zone.

The trading zone, which opened in 2016, suspended operation in February to contain the spread of COVID-19. A virus prevention and control system was established for the zone before its reopening, according to the local government. Enditem

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of COVID-19 infections has risen to 327 in Mongolia after one more Mongolian citizen tested positive for the virus, the country's National Center for Communicable Diseases (NCCD) said Wednesday.

The latest confirmed case is a Mongolian citizen who recently returned home on a chartered flight from Seattle, a U.S. western coastal city, to Ulan Bator, the NCCD said in a statement.

All 327 confirmed cases were imported ones and, among them, 312 patients have recovered from the disease.

The Asian country has not reported COVID-19 related death or local transmission so far. Enditem

(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Andy Home, a columnist for Reuters.)

The refined copper market is on course to register a supply-demand shortfall this year, according to the International Copper Study Group (ICSG).

The forecast deficit is a small one – just 52,000 tonnes in a 24-million tonne global market – but it’s a dramatic change from the group’s forecast this time last year, when it expected a chunky 280,000-tonne surplus.

And that was before covid-19, which has since devastated demand with the ICSG estimating slumps of 8% in the European Union, 6% in the United States and “significant reductions in India, Japan and other ASEAN countries”.

So how come the market is still running short of metal?

The first part of the answer is that global copper production has also been upended by the fatal coronavirus.

The second is that China is on a massive buying spree, imports running at unprecedented levels.

That’s a positive for the copper price, which has this week surged to a fresh year-to-date high of $6,985 per tonne on the London market.

But the impact on any market balance calculation comes with a sting in its tail.

Lockdown losses

Global copper mine production will fall by 1.5% this year, the ICSG forecasts. It will be the second consecutive year of lower output after a 0.2% decline in 2019.

At its last meeting in October 2019, the ICSG anticipated a 2% increase in mined copper production this year but has slashed that forecast by 700,000 tonnes to reflect lockdown losses in key producer countries such as Peru.

The group has also cut 850,000 tonnes of refined metal from its last forecast. Global production will still grow this year, but only by 1.6% compared with a previous call of 4.0%.

Global secondary production, which uses scrap as a feed, will be particularly hard hit, sliding 5.5% this year as scrap collection, processing and logistics networks collapse under national lockdowns.

Much of this recycling capacity is located in China, where confusion over import rules has compounded logistical challenges.

“China’s contribution to world (output) growth will be at a lower rate than initially expected,” the ICSG said.

China’s record imports

China’s smelters are struggling to catch up with an extraordinary rebound in manufacturing activity, fuelled by government stimulus flowing down the metals-intensive channels of construction and infrastructure.

Supply-chain stresses and an open arbitrage window have occasioned an unprecedented import surge.

China imported 3.55 million tonnes of refined copper in the first nine months of this year. That’s already more than last year’s tally and amounts to an extra million tonnes of metal.

It’s worth considering what the copper price would look like if that amount of surplus metal hadn’t gone to China but had instead been dumped into London Metal Exchange and CME warehouses.

Chinese stocks build

Those stellar imports, however, distort the statistical picture. The ICSG uses them, together with domestic production and changes in stocks held by the Shanghai Futures Exchange, to calculate “apparent” usage. The mathematics assume that imports are being used to make copper products.

This year’s import surge has caused China’s “apparent” copper usage to jump to the point that it almost totally offsets the slump everywhere else. Hence the ICSG’s assessment that global demand will be stable this year relative to last.

However, no-one believes that China’s real consumption has risen by the 16% implied from the import figures.

JP Morgan, for example, is expecting a 0.5% increase in real copper usage, still extraordinary given the scale of the lockdown hit at the start of the year, but nowhere near any “apparent” consumption estimate.

The bank’s executive director Natasha Kaneva told this week’s virtual LME seminar that the numbers are “strongly hinting that some invisible stocks have been accumulated”, maybe as much as 900,000 tonnes.

It seems clear that, just as was the case during the 2009-2010 financial crisis, Chinese buyers have pounced on low prices to build physical inventory, no doubt with one eye on the next Five Year Plan with its promise of lots of copper-intensive green infrastructure.

There has also been, as Kaneva pointed out, “a lot of talk about the State Reserves Bureau” (SRB) buying copper.

Shanghai Metal Markets’ Ian Roper, however, cautioned against over-reading the state stockpile manager’s recent activities. At a “pre-LME Week” seminar hosted by Marex Spectron, he described the rumoured purchase of 300,000 tonnes as a “one-off trade disruption hedge”.

The SRB remains a known unknown in the copper market.

But the key take-away from all the speculation is that everyone agrees there is an ongoing mass transfer of excess stock to statistically hidden inventories in mainland China.

Sting in the tail

The ICSG’s calculations of a balanced market may not be a true mirror on the state of actual usage in China, but they capture a market reality that the world’s surplus is being shipped there every month.

It is highly unlikely to come back out again other than in the form of a finished product such as air conditioners.

However, as imports slow from these supercharged levels, the effect will be to reduce China’s “apparent” consumption calculations to the point that the ICSG is forecasting a 2% decline next year.

That won’t be a true reflection of actual usage in the world’s largest copper user either, but it may be how the market reality will feel once the Chinese buying spree is over.

The good news is that the ICSG is expecting usage in the rest of the world to grow by 5% next year as broad-based economic recovery takes hold.

Even factoring in a simultaneous rebound in both mined and refined production, the market is expected to register only a modest 69,000-tonne surplus in 2021.

Everything, of course, depends on covid-19. The current level of uncertainty clouds any forecast of what might or might not happen in 2021.

But the ICSG’s numbers are a good basis for understanding what’s happening to copper right now.

(Editing by Mark Potter)