1 PRIME MINISTER OYUN-ERDENE VISITS EGIIN GOL HYDROPOWER PLANT PROJECT SITE WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/30      2 ‘I FELT CAUGHT BETWEEN CULTURES’: MONGOLIAN MUSICIAN ENJI ON HER BEGUILING, BORDER-CROSSING MUSIC WWW.THEGUARDIAN.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/30      3 POWER OF SIBERIA 2: ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITY OR GEOPOLITICAL RISK FOR MONGOLIA? WWW.THEDIPLOMAT.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      4 UNITED AIRLINES TO LAUNCH FLIGHTS TO MONGOLIA IN MAY WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      5 SIGNATURE OF OIL SALES AGREEMENT FOR BLOCK XX PRODUCTION WWW.RESEARCH-TREE.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      6 MONGOLIA ISSUES E-VISAS TO 11,575 FOREIGNERS IN Q1 WWW.XINHUANET.COM PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      7 KOREA AN IDEAL PARTNER TO HELP MONGOLIA GROW, SEOUL'S ENVOY SAYS WWW.KOREAJOONGANGDAILY.JOINS.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      8 MONGOLIA TO HOST THE 30TH ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING OF ASIA SECURITIES FORUM WWW.MONTSAME.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      9 BAGAKHANGAI-KHUSHIG VALLEY RAILWAY PROJECT LAUNCHES WWW.UBPOST.MN PUBLISHED:2025/04/29      10 THE MONGOLIAN BUSINESS ENVIRONMENT AND FDI: CHALLENGES AND OPPORTUNITY WWW.MELVILLEDALAI.COM  PUBLISHED:2025/04/28      849 ТЭРБУМЫН ӨРТӨГТЭЙ "ГАШУУНСУХАЙТ-ГАНЦМОД" БООМТЫН ТЭЗҮ-Д ТУРШЛАГАГҮЙ, МОНГОЛ 2 КОМПАНИ ҮНИЙН САНАЛ ИРҮҮЛЭВ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     ХУУЛЬ БУСААР АШИГЛАЖ БАЙСАН "БОГД УУЛ" СУВИЛЛЫГ НИЙСЛЭЛ ӨМЧЛӨЛДӨӨ БУЦААВ WWW.NEWS.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     МЕТРО БАРИХ ТӨСЛИЙГ ГҮЙЦЭТГЭХЭЭР САНАЛАА ӨГСӨН МОНГОЛЫН ГУРВАН КОМПАНИ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     "UPC RENEWABLES" КОМПАНИТАЙ ХАМТРАН 2400 МВТ-ЫН ХҮЧИН ЧАДАЛТАЙ САЛХИН ЦАХИЛГААН СТАНЦ БАРИХААР БОЛОВ WWW.EAGLE.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     ОРОСЫН МОНГОЛ УЛС ДАХЬ ТОМООХОН ТӨСЛҮҮД ДЭЭР “ГАР БАРИХ” СОНИРХОЛ БА АМБИЦ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/30     МОНГОЛ, АНУ-ЫН ХООРОНД ТАВДУГААР САРЫН 1-НЭЭС НИСЛЭГ ҮЙЛДЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     ЕРӨНХИЙ САЙД Л.ОЮУН-ЭРДЭНЭ ЭГИЙН ГОЛЫН УЦС-ЫН ТӨСЛИЙН ТАЛБАЙД АЖИЛЛАЖ БАЙНА WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     Ц.ТОД-ЭРДЭНЭ: БИЧИГТ БООМТЫН ЕРӨНХИЙ ТӨЛӨВЛӨГӨӨ БАТЛАГДВАЛ БУСАД БҮТЭЭН БАЙГУУЛАЛТЫН АЖЛУУД ЭХЛЭХ БОЛОМЖ БҮРДЭНЭ WWW.MONTSAME.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     MCS-ИЙН ХОЁР ДАХЬ “УХАА ХУДАГ”: БНХАУ, АВСТРАЛИТАЙ ХАМТРАН ЭЗЭМШДЭГ БАРУУН НАРАНГИЙН ХАЙГУУЛЫГ УЛСЫН ТӨСВӨӨР ХИЙЖЭЭ WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29     АМ.ДОЛЛАРЫН ХАНШ ТОГТВОРЖИЖ 3595 ТӨГРӨГ БАЙНА WWW.EGUUR.MN НИЙТЭЛСЭН:2025/04/29    

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MBCC “Doing Business with Mongolia seminar and Christmas Receptiom” Dec 10. 2024 London UK MBCCI London UK Goodman LLC

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Mongolia, China Look to Bolster Economic Activities in the Post-COVID Era www.thediplomat.com

Mongolian President Khurelsukh Ukhnaa’s latest state visit to Beijing placed a heavy emphasis on China-Mongolia economic ties and thus reflected how Mongolia’s foreign policy supports these endeavors. As Mongolia continues to diversify its mining-dependent economy, Beijing, as its comprehensive strategic partner, will continue to play an active role in investments and developmental projects.
On November 28, Khurelsukh held official talks with Chinese President, Xi Jinping. Khurelsukh’s state visit to China marked the second high-level meeting between the two leaders since the outbreak of COVID-19. The official talks between the heads of state not only shed a light on China-Mongolia economic cooperation but also Mongolia’s foreign policy toward China.
Mongolia’s landlocked position naturally forces Ulaanbaatar to maximize trade and economic activities with Beijing. China – as one of Mongolia’s two immediate neighbors, and a major economic powerhouse to boot – necessarily has an outsized impact on Mongolia’s own development.
The two countries’ economic relations have been facing challenges since the border closures amid the pandemic. Despite China’s prolonged zero COVID policy, however, the two counties managed to double their 2021 export levels last year and launched new railway developments, such as the 227-kilometer Zuunbayan-Khangi railroad.
Mongolia’s economic activities showed a positive outlook during the third quarter of 2022, even though China’s zero COVID policy was still in full effect at the time. According to the Mongol Bank, “Economic activity was relatively stronger than expected in the third quarter of 2022, surpassing the pre-COVID-19 levels.”
In December 2022, the same month China finally lifted its harsh COVID-19 restrictions, Mongolia’s coal exports nearly tripled, going from 1,165 to 2,932 tons.
Amid the effort to open borders between Mongolia and China, Beijing requires certain measures to prevent the additional spread of COVID-19. Mongolian tourists and individuals crossing the border to China will need to fill out both paper and online entry forms in addition to showing a PCR test result from within 48 hours of entry.
Meanwhile, as COVID-19 rages through a newly reopened China, Mongolia also has concerns about imported cases. Even though reviving economic activities are a top priority for the Mongolian government, there is no guarantee that those returning will be COVID-free.
During Khurelsukh-Xi meeting, Xi pointed out that China’s development plan includes contributing to the development of its neighbors and China is ready to accelerate projects in Mongolia. Khurelsukh reiterated that Mongolia’s economic plans, the New Revival Policy, and the long-term development policy paper, Vision 2050, can be a parallel development strategy of China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). Mongolia’s envisioned two-step strategy includes bolstering the “trade, investment, finance, mining, energy, infrastructure, e-commerce, and green energy” sectors.
While these talking points may portend a newer direction between Ulaanbaatar and Beijing, the overall China-Mongolia economic relationship is an ongoing effort on Mongolia’s part and its trajectory has not diverged notably from previous administrations. For Mongolia, geography will always dictate the country’s economic goals, but it is the administration of the day that will execute certain economic plans.
Hence, the bolstering of China-Mongolia economic relations is a never-ending endeavor, only with new twists and mega projects.
China, a major export destination for Mongolian minerals, has invested more in the mining sector than any other developing sector, but with parallel growth and development, Mongolia may benefit from major infrastructure projects as long as there is sufficient funding.
In 2013, Mongolia and China established a medium- to a long-term strategy to boost economic relations. One of the major challenges for Mongolia was its incomplete infrastructure, which constrains economic activities, particularly maximizing mineral exports. Hence, since 2013, throughout different administrations, improving the basic infrastructure of Mongolia has always been a major investment opportunity for foreign companies. And China, as a major investor, tends to win major infrastructure procurements.
This might explain why the incumbent prime minister, Oyun-Erdene Luvsannamsrai, has pushed to build infrastructure that supports Mongolia’s exports, even though the most direct beneficiary is the mineral sector. The hope is that better infrastructure will bolster overall growth and feed into long-term plans for economic diversification.
The Oyun-Erdene administration has been placing heavy emphasis on major infrastructure agreements and the start of project construction as one of the leading sources of economic potential for the country. In his latest press release, the prime minister declared Mongolia as “The Year to Travel 2023-2024.”
One of the major policy recommendations is to establish a free-trade zone (FTZ) in government-approved areas to bolster border trade and the development of transit cities and towns such as Zamiin Uud and Erlian. Border trade cities like Erlian survive on Mongolian businesses.
Based on Khurelsukh’s bilateral talks with Xi in November 2022, China will uphold its comprehensive strategic partnership with Mongolia and is willing to bolster the two-step strategy, which can provide parallel growth and development in both societies.
The joint statement issued after the summit touched on important bilateral agreements between the two countries such as the 1994 Agreement on Friendly Relations and Cooperation between Mongolia and the People’s Republic of China, followed by the 2014 Joint Declaration on the Establishment of Comprehensive Strategic Partnership between Mongolia and the People’s Republic of China. Moreover, Khurelsukh-Xi joint statement affirms agreement on and mutual understanding of the significance of continuing the comprehensive strategic partnership, which upholds the people’s interest in the two nations.
Mongolia’s bilateral relationship with China has more economic nuances than political ones. Mongolia’s landlocked position naturally makes it more challenging to access third-neighbor countries. Therefore, Mongolia’s comprehensive strategic partnership with Beijing is a strategic move to maximize the country’s economic potential. With China’s zero COVID policy now in the rearview mirror, Ulaanbaatar will be hoping to maximize gains from the relationship after three years of disruptions.
BY: Bolor Lkhaajav
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New Chinese FM pledges to enhance pragmatic cooperation with Mongolia www.news.mn

On Tuesday, Chinese Foreign Minister Qin Gang held phone talks with his Mongolian counterpart, B.Battsetseg, with both sides pledging to enhance pragmatic cooperation.
In recent years, under the strategic guidance of the heads of state of both countries and joint efforts of both sides, China-Mongolia relations have maintained a sound development momentum, with pragmatic cooperation yielding fruitful outcomes and two-way trade registering a record high, Qin Gang said, adding both peoples have also joined hands in fighting the COVID-19 pandemic.
‘To maintain, consolidate and further develop China-Mongolia relations is the strategic choice of both sides. China is willing to strengthen exchanges with Mongolia at all levels and deepen cooperation in various fields so as to make new progress in jointly building a community with a shared future’, he said.
Recently, China has optimized and adjusted its prevention and control measures in light of the changing situation of the epidemic, including introducing new policies aimed at facilitating cross-border travel, said the new Chinese Foreign Minister. He noted that China appreciates Mongolia’s scientific-based and objective stand and its support for normal people-to-people exchange between the two countries.
For her part, Battsetseg said as neighbors connected by mountains and rivers, Mongolia and China are exemplary partners of cooperation in the region and good brothers who work together in fighting the pandemic.
Mongolia will as always stick to the one-China principle and is willing to further enhance high-level exchanges and deepen pragmatic cooperation with China, so as to make contributions to regional and international peace and stability and to push the Mongolia-China comprehensive strategic partnership to new levels, she said.
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Russia allows Kazakhstan to use its pipelines to transport oil to Germany www.rt.com

The Russian Energy Ministry has approved the delivery of Kazakh oil to Germany using the infrastructure run by Transneft, a state-owned pipeline transport company and operator of Russia’s section of the Druzhba pipeline.
Oil transportation company KazTransOil will deliver 300,000 tons of crude in the first quarter of 2023 “in the direction of the Adamova Zastava oil delivery point for further delivery to Germany,” the company’s press service said in a statement on Friday.
The operator added that shipments of this amount of crude are scheduled for the transit of oil from CIS member states through Russia via the system of main pipelines.
Berlin stopped imports of Russian oil via pipelines on January 1, despite the fact that the latest EU embargo exempts piped deliveries of crude to the bloc from the sanctions-hit nation.
Earlier, Kazakhstan’s energy minister, Bolat Akchulakov, said that in 2023, the country would supply 1.5 million tons of oil to Germany with a possible increase of future shipments to 7 million tons.
Transneft spokesman Igor Demin noted that the “volumes that used to flow from Russia to Germany cannot be replaced by Kazakhstan.” He explained that while Russia once shipped up to 20 million tons of oil a year to Germany and another 10 million tons to Poland via Druzhba, Kazakhstan is only able to pump 3-7 million tons.
On December 29, Kazakhstan’s KazMunayGas applied for the transit of 1.2 million tons of oil in 2023 via Russia. Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandr Novak said that Moscow was ready to approve Kazakhstan’s request.
Germany confirmed that the refinery in Schwedt had booked capacity in the pipeline system for Kazakh oil for January onwards. Schwedt is the country’s fourth-largest refinery with a capacity of 11.6 million tons of oil products per year. It supplies 90% of the fuel in Berlin. Russian oil giant Rosneft held a 54.17% stake in the enterprise until last September, when Germany placed the company’s local units in trusteeship, handing control of the refinery to the country’s energy market regulator.
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Ateme Powers Expansion of Skymedia OTT Service in Mongolia www.atem.com

Skytel, the Mongolian telecommunications service provider, has expanded the existing Ateme video-delivery infrastructure driving its Skymedia OTT service, with a TITAN encoder and NEA Cloud DVR and CDN solutions, including the Embedded Distributed Storage (EDS) solution for efficiently storing content recorded by viewers.
Skytel first installed the NEA Cloud DVR and CDN solutions in 2019. Following several years of a successful and increasingly popular service, it has chosen to renew its trust in Ateme’s technology for its service expansion.
Tuvshinbayar Turtuvshin, Head of Media IP Network Department at Skytel, said, “We have been very happy to work with Ateme and see a steadily increasing number of subscribers to our OTT service. The combination of TITAN encoders and NEA video-delivery solutions gives viewers the premium video quality they expect with low latency, while making life easier for us with a low-maintenance, future-proof system. And as our subscribers record more and more content, the EDS storage solution has been invaluable to help us scale up storage seamlessly. We are delighted to continue working with Ateme and look forward to repeated success as our platform continues to grow.”
The addition of the EDS system to the NEA Cloud DVR solution allows users to record all their programs in the Cloud, leading to a massive increase in recorded content that is never deleted. Ateme’s EDS technology addresses this issue by distributing assets across the embedded storage available on each streaming server, and a single video only needs to be recorded once to be made available to millions. This cuts the required infrastructure needs by half, reducing system complexity as well as the environmental footprint.
Gautier Vandomme, VP of Asia Pacific, Ateme, said, “Viewers in Mongolia increasingly demand to watch video on their terms: anywhere, at any time, on any screen. We are thrilled to see the rising popularity of the Skymedia OTT service, and to contribute to its expansion as more and more viewers choose to enjoy the superior quality of experience enabled by Skytel.
About Ateme
Ateme is a global leader of video compression and delivery solutions, helping tier-one content providers, service providers and streaming platforms boost their viewers’ engagement and reduce churn.
Leveraging an R&D task force that is unique in the video industry, Ateme’s solutions power sustainable TV services, improve end-users’ quality of experience, optimize the total cost of ownership of TV/VOD services, and generate new revenue streams based on personalization and ad insertion. Beyond offering technological agility, Ateme partners with its customers, offering flexible business models that match their financial priorities.
 
 
 
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The Total Foreign Trade Turnover Increased by USD 5.2 Billion www.montsame.mn

In 2022, Mongolia traded with 160 countries from all over the world, and the total trade turnover reached USD 21.2 billion, of which exports were USD 12.5 billion and imports were USD 8.7 billion.
The total foreign trade turnover increased by USD 5.2 (32.1%) billion, where exports increased by USD 3.3 (35.7%) billion and imports increased by USD 1.9 (27.2%) billion compared to the same period of the previous year. In December 2022, exports increased by USD 259.7 (22.9%) million and imports increased by USD 107.4 (14.8%) million compared to the previous month.
The foreign trade balance was in surplus of USD 3.8 billion in 2022 and increased by USD 1.4 (60.1%) billion compared to the same period of the previous year. Trade balance was in surplus of USD 562.6 million, increased by USD152.4 (37.1%) million from previous month. Trade with China reached USD 13.7 billion in 2022, which is accounting 64.3% of the total trade turnover.
Bituminous coal and copper concentrates accounted for 56.8% and 25.9% of total exports to China, respectively, gold accounted for 99.7% of total export to Switzerland.
The average border price of gold increased by USD 3.3 thousand dollars per kilogram, the average border price copper concentrates increased by USD 119.3 dollars per ton and the average border price of coal increased by USD 8.0 dollars per ton compared to the previous month. However, the average border price of gold unwrought or in semi-manufactured forms decreased by USD 11.4 dollars per barrel.
The bituminous coal export’s volume reached 4.6 million ton, increased by 550.2 thousand tons from the previous month however, value reached USD 756.3 million, and increased by USD 128.5 million from the previous month.
In 2022, 60.6% of the total imports from Russia were petroleum products, 67.3% of the total imports from Japan were cars and 4.3% of the total imports from China were electricity, 10.2% were trucks. The USD 1.9 billion increase in imports from the same period of the previous year was mainly due to USD 369.6 million increase in diesel, USD 170.2 million increase in petrol, USD 191.1 million increase in cars.
Exports of mineral products, natural or cultured stones, precious metal, jewelry and textile articles products made up 97.0 percent of the total export. On the other hand, 74.9 percent of the total imports was mineral products, machinery, equipment and electric appliances, base metals and articles thereof, transport vehicle and its spare parts and food products.
Source: National Statistical Office
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Breathing in UB air equivalent to smoking 6 packs of cigarettes a day www.news.mn

It is impossible to have a healthy lifestyle as long as you live in Ulaanbaatar. The smoke in Ulaanbaatar is at times so thick that people and buildings are visible only in outline. Its smell is acrid and inescapable. The sooty air stings throats and wafts into the gleaming modern office buildings in the center of town and into the blocky, Soviet-style apartment towers that sprawl toward the mountains on the city’s edges.
Ulaanbaatar – home to half of Mongolia’s three million population – is one of the most polluted capitals in the world. Every person living in the capital is breathing the same amount of polluted air as smoking 5-6 packs of cigarettes a day. Therefore, heart disease, pneumonia, and tuberculosis – these are just some of the diseases aggravated by the already hazardous level of air quality in Ulaanbaatar. On bad days, handheld pollution monitors max out, as readings soar dozens of times beyond recommended limits. Levels of the tiniest and most dangerous airborne particles, known as PM-2.5, once hit 133 times the World Health Organization’s suggested maximum.
According to a 2019 study for the United Nations Development Programme, the welfare costs of air pollution are estimated at USD 486 million annually, the costs of lost productivity at USD 58 million, with a combined cost equal to 5.6 percent of Mongolia’s gross domestic product. To address this issue, the government adopted the National Program for Reducing Air and Environmental Pollution in March 2017, with the ultimate target of 80 percent air pollution reduction by 2025.
On May 15, 2019, the Government of Mongolia implemented a ban on raw coal – a type of fuel that poor citizens in the city use to survive harsh winters in the world’s coldest capital – and introduced “refined coal briquettes” at a subsidized price close to the price of raw coal. However, coal briquettes are failed to solve the problem of Mongolia’s air pollution. On the contrary, citizens are concerned about the quality of coal briquettes.
 
 
 
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MIAT Announces Special Tariff to Promote Winter Tourism www.montsame.mn

MIAT Mongolian Airlines signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Mongolian Tourism Association today. Accordingly, foreign tourists coming to our country can get a flight ticket with a 30% discount.
The Director of the Business Management Department of MIAT Mongolian Airlines, N. Batdari, stated that the purpose of promotion to increase the flow of tourists from foreign countries is within the framework of the Mongolian Government’s decision to declare 2023-2025 as the years to visit Mongolia. Therefore, the company is now offering special tariffs to tour operators and other companies to support winter tourism. Mainly, there are two types of tariffs, seasonal and group tour. Herein:
Passenger’s special tariff,
Group passengers’ special tariff to promote tourism.
These tariffs are valid only for foreign passengers, reports MIAT.
MIAT Mongolian Airlines has been offering special tariffs for group passengers to promote tourism since 2020. In addition to this promotion, the company is now offering discounted tariff for the winter season, which is 30 percent cheaper than the standard tariff.
“Our country has limited capacity to receive one million tourists within four months, between June and September. Therefore, we need to promote tourism for all seasons,” said D. Gantumur, President of the Mongolian Tourism Association.
MIAT will serve with an N-type tariff only during winter (010CT-30APR). This type will include:
Need to have at least four passengers,
Valid only for foreign tourists,
Discounted seat quota per flight (30 percent of economic seats or 45 seats).
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Mongolia's capital modernizes public transport bus fleet with Chinese-made buses www.xinhuanet.com

Mongolia is modernizing its capital Ulan Bator's public transport bus fleet with Chinese-made buses, the mayor's office said Monday.
Mongolia plans to import 224 buses from China in 2023, and 117 of the buses manufactured by the Chinese company Xiamen Golden Dragon Bus have already arrived in the capital, the office said in a statement.
Around 30 of the imported buses started operating in the capital city from Monday, it said.
The remaining 107 buses are expected to be imported within the next month.
Buses are the most popular form of public transport in Mongolia's capital.
Authorities of the capital city hope the buses will reduce congestion by increasing the number of people willing to use public transportation.
For many years, traffic congestion and public transport services have been the most pressing issues in Ulan Bator, home to around half of the country's 3.4 million population.
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China didn’t drive commodity markets in 2022. It may in 2023 www.reuters.com

China’s commodity trade data for 2022 shows that prices and volumes weren’t driven by the world’s biggest buyer of natural resources. The question now is whether 2023 will see China reassert its dominance as the main driver of commodity markets.
The market narrative for China’s appetite for commodities has largely moved on from what was a soft 2022 to expectations of a strong 2023. After all, the world’s second-largest economy is reopening and rebuilding after abandoning its strict zero-covid policies.
However, it’s worth looking at what did happen last year. There were differences in China’s 2022 commodities imports, and the trends established may persist for a while yet.
The obvious weak spots among major commodities were imports of crude oil and natural gas, which dropped 0.9% and 9.9% respectively in 2022 from the prior year.
Crude oil imports slipped for a second straight year to the equivalent of 10.17 million barrels per day (bpd), according to official data released on Jan. 13.
The blame is relatively easy to apportion: covid lockdowns cut domestic demand, while lower exports of refined fuels for the first nine months meant that these shipments fell 11% for the year as a whole.
However, the trend for crude oil imports and product exports shifted in the last quarter of 2022. Both gained strongly as the economy started to re-open and Beijing granted higher fuel export quotas in order to both boost the economy and allow refiners to capture some of the strong regional margins for products, especially diesel.
Crude oil imports rose 4% in December from the same month a year earlier, reaching 11.3 million bpd. Fuel exports, at 7.7 million tonnes, posted the highest monthly number since April and up 25% from November’s 6.14 million tonnes.
Natural gas imports, both from pipelines and as liquefied natural gas (LNG), were still weak in December, coming in at 10.28 million tonnes, down 11.8% from the same month in 2021 and a drop of 0.39% from November.
Natural gas imports are also in line to recover as China’s economy picks up speed.
But there is a note of caution, which also applies to crude oil: Whether Chinese utilities return to importing the volumes of LNG, which saw the country become the world’s top buyer in 2021 before losing the crown back to Japan last year, largely depends on the trajectory of spot prices.
Spot price key
China will continue to import LNG under long-term, oil-linked contracts, but matching the strong volumes of prior years depends on utilities making the judgment that spot prices are low enough to make the super-chilled fuel economically viable in China’s domestic market.
What the level of comfort is for spot prices in debatable. It’s likely to be well below the current spot price for delivery to north Asia of $23 per million British thermal units (mmBtu).
While the current price has been dropping steadily since reaching a record $70.50 per mmBtu in late August, it remains high by historic standards, having only once briefly traded above $20 prior to the start of 2021.
China’s refiners have also shown reluctance in the past to buy crude oil when they deem prices are too high, or have risen too far, too fast.
It’s likely that they will want to ramp up purchases in 2023 to meet rising domestic demand from the re-opening economy and ongoing fuel export quotas. But they may become cautious if prices start to head significantly higher than the $85.28 that Brent crude futures ended at on Jan. 13.
It’s also worth noting that China imported about 700,000 bpd more than it processed in its refiners for the first 11 months of 2022. That means refiners likely have ample inventories should they wish to boost throughput without lifting imports much.
Furthermore, the physical crude market works differently to paper futures such as Brent, with China’s imports for the next few months likely already largely arranged.
This means that should refiners plan to boost imports, it will take several months before this becomes apparent in the customs data.
Iron ore, coal
Where a faster response to China’s reopening is likely is in commodities that can be more easily and quickly secured, such as iron ore.
Imports of the steel raw material dropped 1.5% in 2022 from 2021. But if China’s steel mills increase production amid the economy reopening then iron ore imports could rise quickly in coming months.
Coal imports could also tick higher, especially as Chinese buyers take advantage of Beijing’s decision to end its unofficial ban on imports from Australia, formerly the number two supplier.
While China may not import much Australian thermal coal, there is scope for a resumption of shipments of coking coal, used to make steel.
Another commodity potentially in line higher Chinese demand is copper, but it’s here where the biggest scope for disappointment may lie.
China’s imports of copper were actually one of the few strong points in 2022, with arrivals of unwrought copper gaining 6.2% and that for ores and concentrates rising 8%.
With the global economy expected to struggle for growth in 2023, there may be a question mark over how much more copper China’s export-focused manufacturing sector will require.
If manufacturing demand is soft, then the bullish copper story relies on the other uses of the industrial metal, mainly construction, and whether this will be enough to see China’s imports rise strongly in 2023.
Overall, China’s re-opening is positive for its commodity demand, but the reality is unlikely to be as linear and as certain as the market seems to be expecting.
(The opinions expressed here are those of the author, Clyde Russell, a columnist for Reuters.)
(Editing by Kenneth Maxwell)
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MSE Starts Registration of Bidders for the Coal E-Auction www.montsame.mn

In relation to the “Rules on open trading of coal to be exported” adopted by the Resolution No. 466 of the Government of Mongolia on December 14, 2022, MSE has been working to create necessary frameworks for the implementation of the Rules.
Within the framework of preparation, the registration for the trading system has begun for parties interested in buying coal through an e-auction. Under the "Rules on open trading of coal to be exported," the applicants for bidder should submit the following documents to register in the https://comex.mse.mn/ trading system.
A copy of the state registration certificate of the legal entity;
A taxpayer's certificate of the country of residence and taxpayer number;
A bank reference letter; and
An official English translation of documents in a foreign language.
MSE shall review the submitted documents of the bidders registered in the system, contact them for clarification if necessary, and grant the right to participate in the e-auction based on the complete submission of materials to the trading system.
For questions about trading system registration, please contact us at info@mse.mn, follow Mongolian Stock Exchange on Facebook or call 976-11-313747. Please click here for instructions on how to register as a bidder.
Source: MONGOLIAN STOCK EXCHANGE
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