Mongolians consume three times less milk and dairy products on a daily basis than it is recommended by the World Health Organization. Therefore, increasing the consumption of milk and dairy products and opening up the opportunity for people to get adequate nutrients through their daily food is the primary goal of “SUU” JSC, Mongolia's first dairy factory.

In 2022, “SUU” JSC purchased a total of 21.2 million liters of milk from its suppliers and provided a direct income of MNT 27.8 billion. Compared with the same period of the previous year, the amount has increased by 62.3 percent. Also, 60% of the total milk bonus is given to the producers and suppliers of the company. In addition, this year, 1,380 tons of bran worth more than MNT 800 million were distributed by the company to support herders.

The first cooperative in the country “Ar Gunt Martsad” was established in 2020 within the framework of the company’s goal of increasing milk production and enhancing the quality of raw milk. Today, the number of such cooperatives has increased to 12. With the help of the company’s equipment, the cooperatives have become able to supply 2.5 times more and better quality milk to the factory. The establishment of the cooperatives has been able to replace the older practices of milk production that used to be done manually with technological advancements, increasing productivity. For example, the conditions have been created for the suppliers to give their milk to the cooperative, and the cooperative will deliver the milk to the standard refrigerator of "SUU" JSC. In this way, it became an important practice to save time and money for the suppliers.

Taking into account many factors such as the weather, traditional methods of animal husbandry, and Mongolian people's mentality and behavior, cooperative activities were introduced. In addition, the good practices of Japan were studied and implemented in the rural aimags. An example of this is the recently established "Bayan Tolgoi" cooperative. "SUU" JSC in cooperation with "Makubetsu" agricultural cooperative of Japan introduced the most modern milk production practices in the cooperatives. Developed countries develop cooperative systems in areas with four seasons of the year. With the creation of a unified system of cooperatives, the amount and quality of milk will be improved, and the capacity to receive milk will be expanded even more.

The cooperative system has the advantages such as improving the quality of milk supplied to milk factories, ensuring the implementation of a quality-based pricing policy, introducing appropriate agricultural practices to dairy farmers, improving the equipment, increasing the number of intensive dairy farms, decreasing the dependence on the milk production season, and providing the opportunity to get discounted loans from domestic banks and financial institutions.

At the initiative of the President of Mongolia, U. Khurelsukh, the “Food Supply and Security” national campaign was launched in 2022. Moreover, the Government of Mongolia declared 2022 as the year to support the development of cooperatives. In accordance with this, the authorities of some aimags also announced 2022 as the year to support green development and wealth creators.

In addition to increasing the participation of private sector organizations in the implementation of government policies on food and agriculture and the Law on Animal Genetic Resources, the preparation and supply of raw materials for strategic food products in a sustainable and environmentally friendly manner has become an important issue for national producers to pay attention to.

About “SUU” JSC

"SUU" JSC, Mongolia's first milk factory, was established in 1958 with a capacity of producing 30 tons of milk to provide milk and dairy products to the population of the capital. Now the company has more than 500 employees and the capacity to produce 70 types of 130-180 tons of milk and dairy products per day. The factory collects milk from the doorsteps of more than 2,500 suppliers in over 30 areas around Ulaanbaatar and in Tuv, Darkhan, Selenge, Orkhon, and Khentii aimags during the four seasons. Since launching the program to establish cooperatives for milk suppliers in 2022, the company has established 12 cooperatives and is planning to increase it to 22-25 this year. Moreover, the company established “Max Agro”, an intensive animal husbandry farm, in 2015 and became the leader in this field.