Meat prices surge by 1,000+ MNT

Meat prices hit a record-high spike in the last five years last week, according to the Ulaanbaatar Statistics Office.

After increasing by 350 to 644 MNT in mid-January, vendors raised meat prices by another 1,000 to 1,300 MNT last week, causing significant burden on the public.

Here are changes in meat prices observed in the past week.

The Authority for Fair Competition and Consumer Protection said that meat prices tend to increase ahead of Tsagaan Sar along with flour and vegetable prices as people prepare for the celebration. However, this year’s increase is unusually high due to the recent outbreak of the coronavirus, which alerted people to stock up on food, according to an official.

The Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry confirmed that there is no shortage of meat or other hey commodity at the moment. Moreover, city officials are working to reserve meat in preparation of spring when meat supply drops. In other words, people are inflating prices by stocking up on products they don’t have urgent need for.

A moderate rise was also observed in vegetable prices, according to the Ulaanbaatar Statistics Office. Last week, prices of both domestically produced carrot and cabbage went up by 0.5 percent. A kilogram of carrot costs 1,544 MNT on average, while a kilogram of cabbage costs 1,613 MNT.

Packaged flour is sold for 1,730 to 2,500 MNT depending on location and market, but unpackaged flour ranges between 800 MNT and 1,500 MNT per kilogram.