Recently, South Korean supermarket chains such as CU, Lemon, Lotte, K Circle and Hanaro Mart have opened stores in Ulaanbaatar, as they accelerate their overseas push amid fierce competition at home. Mongolia is a promising market for the convenience store business, with the number of people aged under 35 accounting for 65 percent of the total population and a positive feeling towards South Korean firms.

However, one of them, Hanaro Mart has been caught selling food items which have passed their sell-by date. Hanaro Mart also changed the receipts to hide their crime. On Wednesday (17 October), the Metropolitan Professional Inspection Department (MPID) held a press conference regarding the issue. After receiving complaints from the public over the sale of the expired foods, MPID conducted a thorough inspection at Hanaro Mart. Officials seized 1541 out-of-date and overstocked products worth MNT 22 million and put seal on MNT 11 million 648 thousand worth of products the recipes for which had been changed.

According to MPID, the Mart was also selling products that had not been registered by Mongolian customs.