Wages low, yet meat costs set to soar to us price levels
Many Mongolians consider meat the only real food. If there’s no meat in a meal, my father doesn’t consider it’s a proper meal.
It’s hard to survive Mongolia’s severe climate without meat. Dishes that most Mongolians refer to as “national dishes” such as buuz and huushuur, filled dumplings - steamed or fried, tsoivan and steamed noodles are made with meat. Meat is Mongolia’s most high demand food product.
By the end of March 2012, the price of meat has gone up dramatically. The average lamb price rose by 15.5 %, beef prices by 10.6 %, horse meat by 24.3 % and goat meat by 22.5 %. This is compared to the average meat price of previous two months.
Today we are buying a kilo of meat for MNT 8000. Even in years of drought and harsh winters, meat price never rose to this price. Mongolia’s minimum monthly wage is MNT 150000, so if each household consumes 500 grams of meat in a meal a day, it will be spending MNT 120000 a month on meat alone. This is clearly a huge problem of unaffordability.
Commodity prices in Mongolia are the same as in European countries and in the US. However, the average wage in Mongolia is 16 times lower that it is in the US and two to four times lower than it is in Russia and People’s Republic of China. The minimum wage in parts of Africa where poverty levels are extremely high is USD 70 to 80 per month. This means Mongolians are purchasing meat with wages that Africans get, but with prices that are similar to US and European countries.
Today there are 177 thousand families living in the capital Ulaanbaatar and 70 percent of them live in ger districts. Most are households with very low incomes. Research made by international organizations in Mongolia, indicates that 1 out of 9 families in Mongolia spend a night without meat. Meat price leaps force these families to stay a week without meat. For some, meat is now considered a “fancy” meal.
What should we do? Should we not eat meat at all and become vegetarians countrywide? Since the price of meat has sky rocked, many people have started thinking about becoming vegetarians.
At the end of 2011, Mongolian livestock reached 36 million. Based on the amount of meat consumed per capita, Mongolia takes highest place in the world at 108.8 kilos per person annually. This amount is high enough to compare with Japan whose annual meat consumption per capita is 43.9 kilos, Kazakhstan (44.8 k) and Great Britain (79.6k). Our meat market is down, however, so we are selling stocked meat.
Related officials say that the best way to limit meat price increases is to stock up on meat. It is believed that stocked meat is sold at a lower price than the market price. However, the price of stocked meat will be increased by MNT 1800 starting from April. This means we will be buying stocked beef for MNT 7300 and stocked mutton for MNT 6900.
Mongolians now want to get involved in issues regarding rising meat prices, but the legal environment is not conducive to discussions. The important thing is that we need to unite against further price rises or we will forget what meat tastes like.
It’s hard to survive Mongolia’s severe climate without meat. Dishes that most Mongolians refer to as “national dishes” such as buuz and huushuur, filled dumplings - steamed or fried, tsoivan and steamed noodles are made with meat. Meat is Mongolia’s most high demand food product.
By the end of March 2012, the price of meat has gone up dramatically. The average lamb price rose by 15.5 %, beef prices by 10.6 %, horse meat by 24.3 % and goat meat by 22.5 %. This is compared to the average meat price of previous two months.
Today we are buying a kilo of meat for MNT 8000. Even in years of drought and harsh winters, meat price never rose to this price. Mongolia’s minimum monthly wage is MNT 150000, so if each household consumes 500 grams of meat in a meal a day, it will be spending MNT 120000 a month on meat alone. This is clearly a huge problem of unaffordability.
Commodity prices in Mongolia are the same as in European countries and in the US. However, the average wage in Mongolia is 16 times lower that it is in the US and two to four times lower than it is in Russia and People’s Republic of China. The minimum wage in parts of Africa where poverty levels are extremely high is USD 70 to 80 per month. This means Mongolians are purchasing meat with wages that Africans get, but with prices that are similar to US and European countries.
Today there are 177 thousand families living in the capital Ulaanbaatar and 70 percent of them live in ger districts. Most are households with very low incomes. Research made by international organizations in Mongolia, indicates that 1 out of 9 families in Mongolia spend a night without meat. Meat price leaps force these families to stay a week without meat. For some, meat is now considered a “fancy” meal.
What should we do? Should we not eat meat at all and become vegetarians countrywide? Since the price of meat has sky rocked, many people have started thinking about becoming vegetarians.
At the end of 2011, Mongolian livestock reached 36 million. Based on the amount of meat consumed per capita, Mongolia takes highest place in the world at 108.8 kilos per person annually. This amount is high enough to compare with Japan whose annual meat consumption per capita is 43.9 kilos, Kazakhstan (44.8 k) and Great Britain (79.6k). Our meat market is down, however, so we are selling stocked meat.
Related officials say that the best way to limit meat price increases is to stock up on meat. It is believed that stocked meat is sold at a lower price than the market price. However, the price of stocked meat will be increased by MNT 1800 starting from April. This means we will be buying stocked beef for MNT 7300 and stocked mutton for MNT 6900.
Mongolians now want to get involved in issues regarding rising meat prices, but the legal environment is not conducive to discussions. The important thing is that we need to unite against further price rises or we will forget what meat tastes like.
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