Mongolia Suspends Traditional Lunar Near Year Celebrations Due to Coronavirus Concerns www.thediplomat.com

Like most of Asia, especially China’s direct neighbors, Mongolia has watched the ongoing outbreak of a new coronavirus (now called COVID-19) with concern. Early this week, the Mongolian State Emergency Commission announced the suspension of the annual celebration of the Mongolian Lunar New Year (called Tsagaan Sar), adding to existing preventative measures taken by the state since the start of the outbreak, which originated in the Chinese city of Wuhan, early this year.

The situation in China remains dire, with the death toll rising and confirmed cases surpassing 44,000. There are no confirmed cases in Mongolia at present, but the country is considered to be at high risk.

In late January, Mongolia banned public gatherings and shut its border with China out of concern that the coronavirus could enter the country. Schools and universities were also suspended through March 2. The Mongolian government is particularly concerned due to the fact that the capital city is home to more than a million people, about a third of the country’s entire population.

Mongolia was set to celebrate its traditional new year on February 24.

The Lunar New Year is an important event for Mongolians, touching on traditional values held dear, especially by the older generation. Marking the new year is a deeply held tradition, and its celebration has always trumped difficult economic or political circumstances. The core of the celebration is family, though colleagues, peers, and friends also gather to perform traditional rituals as a form of “team building” and integration during the Lunar New Year. However, the rituals embedded in this traditional holiday are likely to beget risks of spreading the coronavirus and other respiratory diseases as they include close human interaction, such as kissing and hugging.

Due to this risk, the Mongolian government suspended the traditional celebration.

Interestingly, the state’s decision to ban gatherings and the typical Lunar New Year celebrations has been welcomed by the masses. The highest ranked commercial television network in the country, Mongol HD Television, carried out a survey on its Facebook page last week on suspending the Lunar New Year celebration this year to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. More than 70,00 active Facebook users participated in the online survey and 86 percent supported the decision to suspend celebrations out of an abundance of caution regarding the spread of the coronavirus. Most of the participants highlighted that the extended celebration of the Lunar New Year in China worsened the spread of the coronavirus there.

In Ulaanbaatar, the capital city of Mongolia, public fears related to the coronavirus outbreak remains strong. Face masks and hand sanitizer are in high demand. Currently, the Ministry of Health of Mongolia has purchased $1.6 million worth of medical supplies and equipment in the interest of prevention. Moreover, as school and university classes are suspended, online courses for students have been organized through early March to prevent an educational gap.

Tergel Bold-erdene is an assistant lecturer at the School of International Relations and Public Administration, National University of Mongolia.

Rio Tinto says China virus slowing copper ore imports from Mongolia www.reuters.com

BEIJING (Reuters) - Rio Tinto (RIO.L) (RIO.AX), operator of the giant Oyu Tolgoi copper-gold mine in Mongolia, said its copper concentrate shipments to China had slowed due to efforts by the authorities to contain the spread of the coronavirus.

Mongolia exports over 90 percent of processed meat products to China www.zgm.mn

China’s pork price has been surging due to Covid-2019, bird flu, and mumps. In particular, the National Bureau of Statistics of China informed that pork price boomed by 116 percent in January from the previous year. Continued shocks in demand and supply of pigs, chicken, and seafood are likely to incent Mongolian meat export. As of 2019, China made up 99 percent of beef and mutton export of Mongolia; horse meat composed 98 percent of meat export. Mongolia earned USD 106 million from these three types of meat export. This is 1.8 times more than the previous year and it is assumed that meat export increased while domestic meat supply declined. Inflation exceeded the Central Bank’s target which is driven by summer and autumn surge of meat prices in 2018 and 2019, it increased more than 30 percent from the previous year. Domestic meat reserve stores up 12.1 million tons and 8.6 million tons of entities which is enough to meet the demands of citizens for 5 months. Analysts warned that if meat export to China soars, it will create a domestic deficit and price slump.

Fluorspar enrichment plant becomes ready to commission in Dundgobi www.montsame.mn

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Government to study options for gold refinery plant www.montsame.mn

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Ambassador of China to Mongolia presents letter of credence www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/. Newly appointed Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the People’s Republic of China to Mongolia, Mr. Chai Wenrui presented his credentials to President of Mongolia Khaltmaagiin Battulga.

Boeing's got bigger problems than the 737 Max www.cnn.com

New York (CNN Business)Fixing the 737 Max and getting it back in the air is crucial for Boeing. But it's not the only major challenge facing the embattled aircraft maker. Boeing also needs to focus on its next generation of passenger planes.

The aircraft maker has made its focus clear as it works on getting the 737 Max approved to fly again, which is expected to happen by the middle of this year. The plane has been grounded since March, following two fatal crashes that killed 346 people. The nearly year-long crisis has put orders and deliveries of many of the company's jets on hold.
Tuesday, Boeing reported that it didn't receive any new orders for commercial jets in January, compared to 45 orders a year ago. And it only delivered 13 commercial planes in the month, down from 46 a year earlier.
The 737 Max crisis has stymied Boeing's growth. But Boeing (BA) faces a longer-term threat that is even more important to overcome: Boeing is falling behind rival Airbus and needs to build the next generation of planes to remain competitive in the future.

The 777X
The 777X widebody plane has already been developed and is going through its first round of test flights. But its official debut has been pushed back because of problems with its engine from General Electric (GE).
At the time of the Max crisis, Boeing was planning on delivering the 777X at some point this year. But in October, it pushed back the first delivery date to early 2021.
Boeing has 309 orders of the 777X that are now being delayed.

The new plane
Boeing is positioning its new airplane for the middle market, slotting in between the 737 Max and long-range wide bodies like the 777X and the 787 Dreamliner. The plane would probably carry about 250 passengers and travel nearly 5,000 miles. The segment would serve airlines who want a larger plane that can carry more passengers and travel farther than current single-aisle jets.
Boeing has already fallen behind rival Airbus in that part of the market. Last June, Airbus started taking orders for the A321neo XLR, its middle-market jet that is set to be in service in 2023.
Boeing coming up with a middle-market jet of its own is "the most important thing I would say," said Richard Aboulafia, aerospace analyst with the Teal Group. "Airlines want a larger, single aisle jet for international routes, and some regional routes as well."
Boeing has been talking for years about developing what it called the NMA for New Middle-Market Airplane. It was popularly being referred to in the industry as the 797, given Boeing's plane nomenclature. Boeing had been signaling it would serve that part of the market with a new widebody jet. But last month new CEO David Calhoun announced that the company is going back to the drawing board on the plane's design.
"We're going to start with a clean sheet of paper again," he said.
That was seen as an indication that the plane would ultimately be a longer single-aisle jet, like the Airbus offering.
"It was long overdue for a reexamination," said Aboulafia. "There's been a shift away from twin aisles and towards single-aisle jets. What was a 50-50 split has become two thirds-one third split."

Falling behind Airbus
But Boeing already has fallen behind Airbus. The market for a mid-range aircraft is probably somewhere been 2,500 and 4,000 planes. Airbus has already taken orders for the A321neo-XLR to serve that market. But once airlines pick a plane in a segment of the market, they rarely buy a rival's plane in the same segment.
"Their competitor already has something," said Ron Epstein, aerospace analyst for Bank of America-Merrill Lynch. "Is it too late [for Boeing] already? It could be. It's hard to say for sure."
While Boeing said it was continuing to work on the new plane during the Max crisis, it was clear that the diversion of resources and and attention to fixing the Max delayed its debut. Calhoun promised it would move quickly on the new plane's design. And he insisted the decision to scrap the old plans and start again was more market related than Max related.
"If we were not having trouble with the Max, I would have made the [same] decision on the NMA," he said on a recent press call.
A replacement for the 737 Max
After it addresses the middle market, Boeing will have to turn attention once again to the part of the market now served by the 737 Max. That's because the need to come up with an replacement for the 737 is on the horizon.
It's tough to tell how soon it will need a 737 replacement. Experts say Boeing might not start taking orders for a 737 Max successor for another 10 years.

But the need to come up with a successor could be sooner than that.
If the fixes for the 737 Max aren't enough to make passengers comfortable with flying Boeing's best-selling jet, Boeing could have to act sooner. Boeing executives and many airlines say they believe passengers will be willing to fly the Max once it is cleared to fly again. But nobody knows for sure.
It has orders for about 4,000 737 Max jets that it has yet to build. So no matter passengers' initial reactions, it will probably continue to build it for years.
But it will also needs new orders at some point to justify the program. So far it has only firm orders for 32 of the planes in the 11 months since the grounding, although International Airlines Group, the owner of Aer Lingus, British Airways, Iberia and other European carriers, signed a letter of intent to buy 200 of the Max jets at the Paris Air Show last June.
The first 737 was delivered more than 50 years ago in 1967. The Max is just the latest version, as it debuted in 2016. Even without the current crisis, experts say it was a model that needed a complete redesign.
"The 737 has reached the end of its line with the Max," said Aboulafia. "It made sense as a last of its kind. There's no way you can get a fifth version out of the plane."

Ambassador of China to Mongolia Chai Wenrui www.montsame.mn

The Mongolian National Chamber of Commerce and Industry (MNCCI) launched a donation campaign, calling for its members to render assistance to the People’s Republic of China to combat with the novel coronavirus infection. The Mongolian delegates yesterday handed over MNT 140 million, which has been collected so far within the campaign, to the Embassy of China in Mongolia.

Ulaanbaatar testing new electric buses www.news.mn

The Mongolian capital is currently testing eight electric buses, which look set to become the first of many on Ulaanbaatar’s streets. The vehicles, have been produced by China’s Yinlong Energy Company for public transportation. The buses began operation on 20 January on a trial period set to push them through the worst of a Mongolian winter. According to public transport specialists, the buses can handle -50 and -60 Celsius temperatures and can be recharged quickly within 15-20 minutes. The buses have 36 seats and run 200 km when fully charged.

Face recognition technology to be introduced in general entrance exam www.montsame.mn

Ulaanbaatar /MONTSAME/ In connection with the start of online registration for general entrance exam, the Education Evaluation Center held press briefing on February 10. According to the report, face recognition technology will be introduced in the general entrance exam from this year.