To increase the economic circulation of livestock and meat products, the export of livestock has restarted in October, 2022. Accordingly, this year, Mongolia has exported 24,540 sheep, goats, and horses. By the end of 2022, some 28,500 animals were exported. As of the first quarter, the export of livestock and animal products was 51.5 million USD, and the export of ready to eat food products was 55.4 million USD, making up a significant part of Mongolia’s exports.
In the last three years, Mongolia has exported an average of 2.3 million livestock.
It is allowed to export up to 20 percent of nonbreeding male sheep and goats from provinces and soums where there is no outbreak of serious livestock diseases for the purpose of increasing the income of herdsmen and citizens in accordance with the number of herds, head growth, pasture capacity, hay and fodder supply due to the increase in the number of livestock and the need for necessary regulation, as reflected in the governmental decree on ‘Measures to be taken to increase the export of animal meat’.
In addition, considering the conditions of winter and spring and the growth of livestock, permission was granted to 26 enterprises in duplicate numbers without any quota to export sheep, goat and horse meat, as well as 8,000 tons of raw beef and 5,000 tons of thermally processed meat, a total of 13,000 tons of meat until October. As of today, enterprises have signed policy agreements to prepare and export 1,900 tons of meat.
To increase the export of meat and meat-products, immunization, disinfection, migration restrictions and surveillance measures are taken regularly to prevent diseases prohibited in international trade. Also, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry emphasizes that veterinary preventive measures are being planned digitally for each herder’s family, implementation and control are being carried out, and an operation system has been introduced to the veterinary and meat factory in order to track and trace the origin and health of animals to the factory.
In 2022, 43 enterprises exported 16,100 tons of meat and meat-products to 10 countries, and 10,000 tons of which were exported in the last two months of 2022. China accounts for more than 90 percent of total exports, and Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong account for the rest. Moreover, meat and meat-products worth 50.6 million USD were exported to China, Russia, Japan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Azerbaijan, Iran, United Arab Emirates, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Vietnam.
China restricted the import of meat and meat-products from June 2021 due to the situation of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the export resumed regularly from November last year. According to the information of the Customs General Administration, in the first month of this year, 900 tons of horse meat, 800 tons of thermally processed meat products, and a total of 1,700 tons of meat and meat products were exported to China.
Previously, Mongolia exported 129,000 tons of meat and meat-products, but this amount decreased by 45 percent due to pandemic restrictions, transportation logistics difficulties, and unstable economic conditions. The livestock numbers have grown by an average of four percent in the past five years, reaching 71.1 million by the end of 2022.
From this, 15 million head of livestock or 20 percent on average was used for food and put into economic circulation. According to research submitted by provinces, in 2022 and 2023, 12.8 million livestock can be supplied for the needs of the population, and 186,000 tons of meat can be exported.
