A campaign to shut down furnaces that produce steel that fails to meet environmental and quality standards has created a 68 million-ton glut of scrap iron in China, said Seiichi Hayashi, head of Steel Recycling Research, a Japanese scrap iron research firm.

The export drive began in April, and as scrap found its way to Vietnam, one of Japan's largest markets for scrap iron, the Japanese industry was left to fret.

China's scrap iron exports spiked to 15,000 tons in April from a monthly average of 240 tons in the first quarter of 2017. They further skyrocketed to 80,000 tons in May and 510,000 tons in September. This compares with Japan's monthly average of 680,000 tons during the first 10 months of the year.

Concerns about the Chinese deluge temporarily pushed down scrap iron prices in Japan. But since Beijing regards scrap iron as an important resource, it levies a 40% export tax on the material, dimming prospects that China will start flooding markets with cheaper product in the near future.

"We are not overly concerned that Chinese exports may flood the Japanese market and cause prices to sink," said Kazuyoshi Aizawa, president of a scrap dealer in Kawasaki.

Tokyo Steel Manufacturing this spring did import Chinese scrap for its plant in Kyushu, in the south of the country.

For plants in Kyushu, which is close to China, this makes sense, said an executive at a steelmaker that uses electric furnaces in Japan's eastern Kanto region. But the company has no intention of following suit because transportation costs would offset the benefits, the executive added.

There are also concerns about the quality of Chinese scrap iron. "We cannot be 100% confident about the quality," said a manager in charge of purchasing at a blast-furnace steelmaker. "We have no plan to buy [Chinese scrap] no matter how cheap it is."

Attitudes are different in other Asian markets. In September, when Chinese scrap iron exports hit this year's monthly high for the first 10 months of the year, China exported 68,000 tons to Vietnam. Japan exported 129,000 tons to the country that month.

The figures alarm the Japanese industry because monthly Chinese exports to Vietnam were less than 10,000 tons until May and 20,000 tons in June.

Chinese exports can take land routes to Vietnam, which gives them a big advantage over those from Japan. "Offers for Japanese scrap iron from Vietnam have been decreasing," Aizawa said. "There is no doubt that Chinese exports are roiling Asian markets."

If Japanese exports decline due to Chinese competition, Hayashi of Steel Recycling Research said, domestic scrap prices will fall.

The images were captured during a probe of the No.3 reactor by a remote-controlled robot in July.

The probe confirmed for the first time the existence of lumps that are likely to be fuel debris as well as damaged components of the reactor.

Fuel debris is a mixture of melted nuclear fuel and broken reactor parts. It is believed to be accumulating inside the containment vessels of the 3 reactors that underwent meltdowns at the plant.

Tokyo Electric Power Company officials said on Thursday night that one of the images taken just below the pressure vessel of the No.3 reactor shows damaged tube-shaped devices that were used to insert control rods into the reactor.

They said they also confirmed that the cables laid along a supporting structure called a pedestal were severely damaged.

The officials said the cables, which are connected to thermometers, will melt only at temperatures over 1,000 degrees Celsius. They said this could suggest that molten fuel and other objects fell from the reactor and inflicted the damage on the cables.

Tokyo Electric plans to conduct further analyses as part of its efforts to work out ways to remove the fuel debris. The removal is an important step toward decommissioning the disabled plant.

Mr. L.Bayartulga, State Secretary of MoFALI and Mr. Fred Gorrell, Assistant Deputy Minister of AAFC led their respective delegates at the meeting. Both sides have exchanged information on the current developments in their agricultural sectors and discussed the areas of future cooperation.

As a part of the meeting, the Mongolian delegation visited the Ottawa Research and Development Center and got introduced about the research activities on long-term tillage and cold climate crops. The center presented a part of its rare insect collection, one of the biggest in the world, to the delegations.

Manneken-Pis wearing a deel
Manneken-Pis, the symbol of Brussels folklore, wore a new deel, the traditional clothing of Mongolia, for the opening of the event on November 25 and 26. Ambassador of Mongolia to Belgium O.Och, Mayor of Brussels Philippe Close and other city officials attended the opening.

Manneken-Pis will wear the costume again on December 17, from 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m., according to the event planner.

A “Mongolian Village” has been set up at the center of Winter Wonders to promote arts and crafts and other products made in Mongolia, as well as allow locals to taste Mongolian food while watching Mongolian artists perform. Wool and cashmere producers, tourism companies and restaurants are exhibiting their products at the event, according to the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Mongolia.

“Mongolian gers have been set up in Brussels. This shows that no matter how far or close, Mongolians strive to bring their traditions and cultures closer to Europeans and foreigners and spread positive and correct understanding about their home country,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Relations noted.

Mongolian Village at Winter Wonders in Brussels
Winter Wonder is an annual event held before and during the Christmas holidays with enchanting rendezvous, colorful stalls for stocking up on gifts and treats within a two-kilometer trail, original food tastings, sound and light shows, and attractions including merry-go-rounds on Place Sainte-Catherine, the large wheel, and ice rink at Marche aux Poissons.

This year, Brussel officials paid special attention to its decorations to create “an enchanting and magical setting that can be seen from the satellite”.

Last year, when Mongolia turned to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for aid as it struggled to pay its debts, growth was just 1 percent.

Finance Minister Chimed Khurelbaatar, who was appointed last month, told Reuters in an interview this week that in the third quarter of 2017, Mongolia's growth was 5.6 percent from a year earlier.

He did not give a full-year projection for this year, but said growth in 2018 should be 4.2 percent, shored up by the $5.5 billion IMF-led rescue package agreed in May.

On Thursday, rating agency Moody's Investors Service said growth should reach 4.2 percent this year.

Mongolia's troubled economy has been lifted by improving coal trade activity, sourced mostly from the Gobi desert in southern Mongolia, less than 250 kilometres from the Mongolia-China border.

Global coal prices have been significantly stronger this year, but Mongolia's ability to profit from this has been hampered by a crackdown on smuggling on both sides of the China-Mongolia border. This has created a huge bottleneck at the border.

"We have higher coal prices, but Mongolia cannot benefit from this," Khurelbaatar said.

He said Mongolia would "work very closely" with Beijing to ease the bottleneck.

Mongolia is in the process of refinancing debts with new bonds now that it is able to set lower rates of interest, said Khurelbaatar. The country is reforming its tax system in a bid to boost revenues, and will launch a 10-25 percent progressive income tax in January.

However, Khurelbaatar said there are no plans to raise the rate of tax on the mining sector, which accounted for 20 per cent of GDP last year, though there are plans to alter the bidding process for mining rights to improve transparency.

Moody's on Thursday maintained its sovereign credit rating for Mongolia at "Caa1 stable".

"Given the improved macroeconomic backdrop and commodity prices, the near-term fiscal and growth targets originally set under the country's IMF's programme have been surpassed," it said.

However, it said Mongolia's "narrowly diversified economy" remained "exposed to commodity price shocks that have resulted in volatile growth and government revenues."

The participants to the reality show are 5 representatives from the public who have never had any exposure to the capital markets before, and they will participate by purchasing securities at the “Mongolian Stock Exchange” based on the advice of professional investment advisors. The show is composed of 7 episodes, each of which lasts 40 minutes and the winner will be the participant who has increased the value of his/her portfolio the most during the show time.

The value of the securities fluctuates in line with the overall market situation as well as the individual operations of joint stock companies and therefore, the investment portfolio of the participants are equally likely to increase or decrease. The purpose of this reality show is to illustrate this reality of the stock market, highlighting not only the upside potential of the market but also its inherent risks. 

“Green Arrow” reality show will be broadcasted on MNB channel every Monday from December 11th, 2017.

On the secondary market for government bonds, 659 bonds with a value of MNT64.8 million were traded.

On the secondary market for government bonds block trading, 1,000 bonds with a value of MNT105.5 million were traded.

On the secondary market for corporate bonds, 951 bonds with a value of MNT95.1 million were traded.

The MSE ALL Index decreased by 1.37 percent to stand at 1,244.57 points. The MSE market cap stands at MNT2,381,559,057,577,022