Earlier today (4 March), Mongolian farmers demonstrated outside the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry protesting against the government’s decision to import 160 thousand tonnes of wheat from Russia. Previously, the ministry had announced that Mongolia could fully meet domestic flour demands after harvesting a total of 420 thousand tonnes of wheat.

According to S.Badral, a farmer from Selenge Province – which is where most of Mongolia’s cereal crops are grown – a tonne of wheat costs RUB 15,000 (USD 229) in Russia today. Mongolia is expected to import a tonne of wheat for MNT 700,000-800,000 (USD 253-289) from Russia. But, Mongolian farmers sold a tonne of wheat for MNT 500,000 (USD 181) last autumn.

Mongolia needs a total of 302 thousand tonnes of wheat in order to fully meet domestic demand for flour. In autumn, 2019, Mongolia harvested 407.6 thousand tonnes of wheat; 247.4 thousand tonnes was used for flour production, 10 thousand tonnes for brewing alcohol, 35 thousand tonnes for animal feed and 42 thousand for the crop reserve.