Aug.2 (Xinhua) -- Severe weather conditions killed a total of 2.4 million heads of livestock across Mongolia in the first half of this year, the country's national statistics office said Monday.

Extreme wintry weather known as dzud, heavy snow and dust storms, and drought are the main causes of the animal deaths, the statistics office said.

Around 70 percent of the livestock deaths occurred in four provinces, namely Bayankhongor, Dundgovi, Uvurkhangai and Govi-Altai, which had suffered mostly from heavy snow and dust storms in the spring of this year.

Nearly 90 percent of the dead animals were goats and sheep.

Animal husbandry is the backbone of the landlocked country's economy as nearly 40 percent of its nomads depend on animal husbandry for their livelihoods

The import and export values of goods transported by China-Europe freight trains has surpassed 20 billion yuan (about 3 billion U.S. dollars) via the border port of Erenhot in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, local railway authorities said.

The number of China-Europe freight trains via the port has reached 7,187 as of Wednesday, carrying 610,000 twenty-foot equivalent units (TEU) of goods.

The top export commodities during the first half of the year were engineering vehicles, electrical equipment, auto parts and household appliances, according to the customs of Erenhot.

Erenhot Port, an important channel for international cargo in north China's Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, has around 50 China-Europe freight train routes passing through it.

Russia has overtaken Australia, Argentina and Brazil in beef exports to the Chinese market, which are likely to grow further over the next five years, the Center for Industry Expertise (CIE) of Russia’s Rosselkhozbank says.

China bought some 3.7 thousand tons of Russian beef in the first quarter of 2021, 20 times more than during the same period last year, the industry department of the agricultural bank reported.

Over 55% of Russia’s total cattle meat exports go to the Chinese market. Overall, Russia sent about 6.5 thousand tons of cattle meat abroad in January-March, nearly two and a half times more than a comparable period in 2020.

The CIE explains the export growth as “the effect of a low base and a competitive price,” which makes Russian beef popular among Chinese consumers. Also, China’s own meat production was damaged by the African swine fever in 2018-2019, which forced the country to increase meat imports. Experts say this trend will continue for at least five more years.

“The need to keep meat imports at a high level will remain for at least the next five years, while the effects of the African swine fever outbreak are felt. Therefore, in the coming years, imports of Russian beef to China will continue to grow at a high rate,” the head of the CIE, Andrei Dalnov, predicts.

China’s former major suppliers have had problems of their own, with Australia and Argentina both cutting their exports due to the pandemic. Brazilian companies were compromised back in 2017, when several dozen of the country’s agricultural enterprises were shut down due to non-compliance with sanitary conditions.

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Cattle meat production in Russia has been growing since 2018, with experts stating that its dynamics remained positive, even amid the pandemic. Russia produced a total of 314,000 tons of cattle meat in the first quarter of 2021.

Experts say the high demand from the Chinese market will not affect beef prices in Russia, While the annual demand for beef reaches 1.94 million tons, the country exports just 20,000 tons, which is a little more than one percent. Also, unlike consumers in China, Russians prefer to buy cheaper meats like chicken and pork, with only about 17% choosing beef.

Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- COVID-19 infections in Mongolia increased by 992 over the past 24 hours to 165,147, the country's health ministry said Sunday.

A total of 6,075 samples were tested across the country in the past day, and the latest confirmed cases were all locally transmitted, the ministry said in a statement.

Meanwhile, five patients aged 61-80 died from the disease in the past day, pushing the national death toll to 847.

The Asian country launched a nationwide COVID-19 vaccination campaign in late February, aiming to cover at least 60 percent of its population of 3.3 million.

More than 2,177,100 Mongolians have so far received their first dose, and over 1,981,290 have been fully vaccinated.

Tokyo -Japan has signed an agreement with Mongolia to extend 883 million yen ($8 million) in grant aid to help the country fight the coronavirus pandemic.

Under the agreement, the Japan International Cooperation Agency will provide Mongolia with cold chain equipment such as refrigerated vaccine transport vehicles as promptly as possible, according to the government-backed body.

Aside from procuring COVID-19 vaccines, Mongolia and other developing countries are facing distribution issues. Vaccines must be kept at low temperatures when transported and stored, a process known as the cold chain.

Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga (R) and Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene pose for a photo during their meeting at the State Guest House in Tokyo on July 22, 2021. (Kyodo)

In a meeting with Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga in Tokyo on July 22, Mongolian Prime Minister Luvsannamsrai Oyun-Erdene expressed his appreciation for Japan's assistance over the pandemic, the Japanese Foreign Ministry said.

The new aid for Mongolia -- signed between JICA and the Mongolian government in Ulaanbaatar on July 19 -- is part of the "Last One Mile Support," a Japanese government project intended to ensure every country gets vaccinated.

JICA has recently signed similar agreements with Mozambique and Palestine, worth 430 million yen and 897 million yen, respectively.

Japan has been one of the leading contributors to multilateral efforts to ensure equitable delivery of vaccines, especially to the developing world, through such initiatives as the U.N.-backed COVAX global vaccine-sharing program.

However, the establishment of cold chains within developing countries is not always part of the COVAX scheme.

Japan has been promoting Last One Mile Support to complement COVAX, according to government officials.

In aims of making public transport more accessible in the capital city, 500-600 new buses are planned to be added to the fleet.

As of today, 960 buses and trolleybuses are being operated in 98 routes by two public-owned and 17 private-owned bus operating companies. Of a total of 160 buses planned to be replaced this year, 30 new buses have begun to be operated as starters. The rest are planned to be put into operation before the end of this year, reports the Press Relations Department of the Governor’s Office of the Capital City.

The unified project on decentralizing Ulaanbaatar city and reducing traffic congestion reflects renewing the auto road network. In the framework of the plans to construct 223 km of roads that will directly affect the amount of traffic congestion in the coming three years, blueprints for 33 km of new ring roads and 28.8 km of main and secondary roads have been approved.

Following the completion of the blueprints for 106.5 km of roads by the end of this year, road construction is planned to be launched from 2022. In the framework of the measures being taken to reduce traffic congestion, the blueprints for the rest of the 54.8 km of roads are planned to be financed through a loan from the World Bank.

The Prime Minister of Mongolia L.Oyun-Erdene, who paid a working visit to Japan, arrived in Mongolia yesterday.

During his stay in the Japan, the Prime Minister held an official meeting with Prime Minister of Japan Yoshihide Sugahe and paid a courtesy call on His Majesty the Emperor Naruhito.

Moreover, the PM attended the opening ceremony of the Tokyo-2020 Summer Olympics and held a meeting with Toshihiro Nikai, Secretary-General of Japan’s ruling Liberal Democratic Party, and Motoo Hayashi, Chairman of Japan-Mongolia Parliamentary Friendship League in the House of Representatives of the National Diet of Japan, young parliamentarians, Nishimura Yasutoshi, Minister in charge of Economic Revitalization, the Trans-Pacific Partnership, COVID-19 disease control and the head of the National Center for Communicable Diseases of Japan to discuss the Mongolian-Japan bilateral ties and cooperation as well as as timely issues.

“Japan is organizing Olympic Games in the current difficult situation of the COVID-19 pandemic. Mongolia first participated at the Tokyo Olympic Games in 1964 after became a member of the UN in 1961. It has been 57 years since Tokyo last hosted the Olympic Games. Regarding the matter, it was important to express solidarity with Japan amid the challenging circumstances posed by the pandemic and pay courtesy from the point of view of history,” said PM Oyun-Erdene.

PM L.Oyun-Erdene during his meeting with Japan’s PM Yoshihide Suga, exchanged views on major economic cooperation, including comprehensively expanding Mongolia’s new International Ulaanbaatar Airport recently opened at the Khushigt valley near Ulaanbaatar city, development of the region as a complex economic, information technology and tourism region, a highway development surrounding the capital city aimed at reducing traffic congestion of the city, Bogdkhan railway development, intensifying the public-private partnership in information technology, training of engineers and cooperation in development of a feasibility study for a hydropower plant at coal deposits.

The 50th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Mongolia and Japan will be marked in 2022. The sides agreed to celebrate the upcoming historic event of bilateral relations. Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Japanese PM Yoshihide Suga were invited to visit Mongolia on the occasion of the anniversary.

“We supported the athletes who participated in the Olympic Games. I am delighted that our athletes have won three Olympic medals. During the opening ceremony of the Summer Olympics, there was an opportunity to meet with heads of state and government, alongside exchanging views on diplomatic relations and further cooperation. Thus, many events coincided during the visit covered wide range,” PM L.Oyun-Erdene said, as he concluded his visit.

On his way back to Mongolia, the PM held a working meeting with the Prime Minister of the Republic of Korea Kim Bu-gyom. He exchanged views on upgrading the current ‘Comprehensive Partnership’ between Mongolia and the Republic of Korea to ‘Strategic Partnership', economic projects.

During his stay in the Republic of Korea, the Mongolian Prime Minister also held a meeting with officials from the Export-Import Bank of Korea. At this meeting, the sides exchanged views on necessity of accelerating development projects- Solongo 1 and 2 apartment complexes, rent apartments at the Bayangol Mountain and central heating station for 10 rural aimags - in cooperation with the ROK government, reports the Media and Public Relations Department of the Government of Mongolia.

On July 29, Minister of Foreign Affairs and Trade of Hungary Péter Szijjártó paid a working visit to Mongolia.

The Hungarian Minister held official talks with Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mongolia B.Battsetseg to discuss about Mongolia-Hungary bilateral relations and cooperation and international issues of mutual concern. The sides also agreed to increase trade, economic and investment volumes between Mongolian and Hungary and support cooperation of private sectors from the two countries.

Mongolia’s Minister Battsetseg emphasized that the education sector is a priority in the bilateral ties and expressed her willingness to develop partnership in cultural, filmmaking and archaeological areas.

Minister Péter Szijjártó informed at the meeting that the Hungarian Export-Import Bank has opened a line of credit as a financing for projects and programs to be carried out by the entities of Mongolia and Hungary. In this regard, a virtual meeting was set to be organized in August 2021 between the chambers of trade and commerce of the two nations.

He then mentioned that Mongolia’s Biokombinat veterinary vaccine factory is being refurbished by USD 57 million investment from Hungary and praised that reciprocal trade volume has been grown by 19 percent amid the pandemic situation.

During the visit, the Hungarian delegates led by Minister Péter Szijjártó paid a courtesy call on Speaker of the State Great Khural of Mongolia G.Zandanshatar and held a bilateral meeting with Minister of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry of Mongolia Z.Mendsaikhan.

Minister Péter Szijjártó also handed over a humanitarian assistance by the government of Hungary to Mongolia – 33 respirators that are essential for Mongolia’s response to COVID-19.

Copper was an early victim of the increasingly fraught relations between Canberra and Beijing and Chinese imports of concentrate have fallen off a cliff since November last year under a ban that was never made official.

Australia is the fourth-largest producer of copper concentrates globally. The country produced 3.5 million tonnes last year, with just under half of that exported.

Unlike the iron ore market, where the countries’ steel mills and iron ore miners are joined at the hip, Australian concentrate only made up some 5% of Chinese imports. China was Australia’s no. 1 customer, however, and in the past sucked in more than half the country’s exports.

According to a new report by Roskill, a minerals and metals market research firm, total exports of Australian concentrates fell 8% in 2020 (in gross weight terms) as producers scrambled to find new customers in the final months of 2020.

It appears other Asian countries jumped at the chance to pick up China’s slack. While Australia’s concentrate exports to China slumped 89% in the first quarter this year, Japanese and South Korean imports surged by 52% and 192% respectively.

Between them, Japan and Korea purchased 56% of Australian exports of some 400,000 tonnes during Q1 2021, a 3% rise compared to the same quarter a year ago.

Refined exports jump

Treatment and refining charges (TC/RCs) paid by miners to smelters to process concentrate into refined metal rise when supply is ample and fall when smelters are forced to compete for scarce material.

TC/RCs have risen to around $45 a tonne after falling to a historically low level of just over $20 a tonne in April. While that would indicate loosening conditions on the spot market today’s charges still compare to more than $70 a tonne in June last year and spikes as high as $130 in the previous decade.

Roskill says in addition to the change in countries buying Australian concentrates, production of primary refined copper in Q1 2021 increased 20% and exports of refined copper (largely to China and Malaysia) increased 13%.

Copper prices turned higher again on Thursday, scaling $4.50 a pound or $9,920 a tonne in New York trading after falling back from a near two-month high on Monday. In Shanghai, copper was trading at a steep premium to Comex metal at CNY71,510 or around $11,050 a tonne.

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