Panhandle residents enjoying Mongolian products
A little bit of Mongolia was delivered to Chadron this month.
Chadron State College professor emeritus Dr. Jim O’Rourke spent three days earlier this year displaying several items he’d brought home with him from Mongolia and taking orders for items he could purchase for regional residents on his next trip to Mongolia.
“I thought I’d be selling gloves and socks and stuff,” he said. But when visitors to the shop saw the items he’d brought home for himself – saddle, carpets and the like – they put in orders for bigger items as well. O’Rourke didn’t have prices for those types of things but it didn’t seem to matter.
“People pretty much trusted me and told me to go for it.”
O’Rourke serves on an advisory team for the Mongolian Society for Range Management, which works to train Mongolians on better managing their grazing lands. Through his work with that group, he also became familiar with the Mongolian Yak Wool Society, a cooperative of yak herders that works to market yak wool products. He travels to the country two to three times each year. The Yak Wool Society approached him about selling their products in Chadron.
He told them he’d give it a shot and ended up with more than 40 orders, many of them for Yak Wool Society products and others for the larger items like carpets, saddles and gers. Gers are also referred to as yurts and have been a traditional form of housing in central Asia for a thousand years.
O’Rourke traveled to Mongolia in May, when he made arrangements to fill all of those orders. His buying trip took him to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and its “Black Market.” The Black Market, though no longer illegal, kept its name from Russian times when free trade was illegal. One can find everything from toothbrushes to cars there, O’Rourke said.
His order included felt boots, saddles, gers, 39 carpets in all sizes and colors, horse blankets, saddle pads, processed felt and the furniture to put into the gers (three each – coffee tables, kitchen and bedroom cabinets, stoves and floors, four beds and 11 stools). The total value of the goods came to $10,000.
Approximately $2,000 of that went to purchase products from the Mongolian Yak Wool Society, a fact that pleases O’Rourke, who started the venture to show them that there is a market for their products.
“They’ve just got to get after it, they’ve got to develop it,” he said.
The buying portion of his trip was the easiest step in the international trade process.
O’Rourke purchased a shipping container to send the items to the U.S., and was told it would cost $5,500 to ship the container and its items to Denver, Colo. That price was supposed to include railway shipping from Mongolia to China and shipping by sea from there to the U.S.
Problems began to arise, however, once the container entered into the possession of China Shipping. In order to clear customs, an original bill of lading must accompany the shipment. China Shipping said it required an additional $1,700 to release the bill of lading. While research O’Rourke did prior to paying the extra fee indicates that the practice of charging for that is illegal, he had no choice.
“They just had me,” he said. If he wanted his items, the fee had to be paid.
Once that was done, the container set off by boat but was offloaded in Oakland, Calif., for a customs inspection because China Shipping filled out the paperwork incorrectly. That added another $1,000 to the price.
O’Rourke and his buyers all figured shipping and handling would double the price of the items they purchased. The excess fees pushed it beyond double. All the costs incurred to ship and handle the items totaled $12,000.
The shipment finally reached Denver, however, and O’Rourke hauled it all home in a stock trailer to distribute. As of last week, everyone is now in possession of their genuine Mongolian items and are happy with the products, he said.
Glen Price is one of those who purchased a ger, and he set it up over the weekend. O’Rourke brought home three of the structures – all what they call five-wall gers, meaning that there are five pieces of a lattice-like structure, that when tied together with cord, form the walls. Eighty-one poles rise from the top of the lattice to a circular wheel to form the rafters.
The door of a ger always faces to the south, O’Rourke explained. Once the structure is erected, muslin covers the rafters, topped with felt for insulation. Felt also covers the walls.
“This is all homemade (felt),” O’Rourke said.
Finally, a decorative cover is placed over the entire ger. A stove in the middle of the ger vents through the ceiling, and ropes allow control of the vents.
Other furniture traditionally in a ger includes a kitchen cabinet on the east side, bedroom cabinets on the north side with beds on either side, and tables and stools.
The five-wall ger is approximately 20-21 feet in diameter when completed.
While O’Rourke believes he is likely out of the import business, at least for the near future, he is definite that there is a strong market for the items.
“I know the market is not even close to saturated in Chadron,” he said. “Imagine what it would be in Boulder.”
Particularly for the Yak Wool Society items, O’Rourke sees a large market in affluent, cold weather areas. Yak wool has the characteristics of cashmere but at half the price, he said. Because it’s a newer industry, many of the herders, while having raised yaks for years, are not familiar with the possibilities of these value-added products. He hopes his small-scale experience shows them just how successful it could be if they approach it correctly.
“As with most things in agriculture, we do a great job with the production but a lousy job with the marketing,” he said.
O’Rourke returned to Mongolia this week for a meeting of his range management group, where he will be guiding them through the process of establishing a membership base, voting on a constitution and electing a board of directors.
Chadron State College professor emeritus Dr. Jim O’Rourke spent three days earlier this year displaying several items he’d brought home with him from Mongolia and taking orders for items he could purchase for regional residents on his next trip to Mongolia.
“I thought I’d be selling gloves and socks and stuff,” he said. But when visitors to the shop saw the items he’d brought home for himself – saddle, carpets and the like – they put in orders for bigger items as well. O’Rourke didn’t have prices for those types of things but it didn’t seem to matter.
“People pretty much trusted me and told me to go for it.”
O’Rourke serves on an advisory team for the Mongolian Society for Range Management, which works to train Mongolians on better managing their grazing lands. Through his work with that group, he also became familiar with the Mongolian Yak Wool Society, a cooperative of yak herders that works to market yak wool products. He travels to the country two to three times each year. The Yak Wool Society approached him about selling their products in Chadron.
He told them he’d give it a shot and ended up with more than 40 orders, many of them for Yak Wool Society products and others for the larger items like carpets, saddles and gers. Gers are also referred to as yurts and have been a traditional form of housing in central Asia for a thousand years.
O’Rourke traveled to Mongolia in May, when he made arrangements to fill all of those orders. His buying trip took him to the capital city of Ulaanbaatar and its “Black Market.” The Black Market, though no longer illegal, kept its name from Russian times when free trade was illegal. One can find everything from toothbrushes to cars there, O’Rourke said.
His order included felt boots, saddles, gers, 39 carpets in all sizes and colors, horse blankets, saddle pads, processed felt and the furniture to put into the gers (three each – coffee tables, kitchen and bedroom cabinets, stoves and floors, four beds and 11 stools). The total value of the goods came to $10,000.
Approximately $2,000 of that went to purchase products from the Mongolian Yak Wool Society, a fact that pleases O’Rourke, who started the venture to show them that there is a market for their products.
“They’ve just got to get after it, they’ve got to develop it,” he said.
The buying portion of his trip was the easiest step in the international trade process.
O’Rourke purchased a shipping container to send the items to the U.S., and was told it would cost $5,500 to ship the container and its items to Denver, Colo. That price was supposed to include railway shipping from Mongolia to China and shipping by sea from there to the U.S.
Problems began to arise, however, once the container entered into the possession of China Shipping. In order to clear customs, an original bill of lading must accompany the shipment. China Shipping said it required an additional $1,700 to release the bill of lading. While research O’Rourke did prior to paying the extra fee indicates that the practice of charging for that is illegal, he had no choice.
“They just had me,” he said. If he wanted his items, the fee had to be paid.
Once that was done, the container set off by boat but was offloaded in Oakland, Calif., for a customs inspection because China Shipping filled out the paperwork incorrectly. That added another $1,000 to the price.
O’Rourke and his buyers all figured shipping and handling would double the price of the items they purchased. The excess fees pushed it beyond double. All the costs incurred to ship and handle the items totaled $12,000.
The shipment finally reached Denver, however, and O’Rourke hauled it all home in a stock trailer to distribute. As of last week, everyone is now in possession of their genuine Mongolian items and are happy with the products, he said.
Glen Price is one of those who purchased a ger, and he set it up over the weekend. O’Rourke brought home three of the structures – all what they call five-wall gers, meaning that there are five pieces of a lattice-like structure, that when tied together with cord, form the walls. Eighty-one poles rise from the top of the lattice to a circular wheel to form the rafters.
The door of a ger always faces to the south, O’Rourke explained. Once the structure is erected, muslin covers the rafters, topped with felt for insulation. Felt also covers the walls.
“This is all homemade (felt),” O’Rourke said.
Finally, a decorative cover is placed over the entire ger. A stove in the middle of the ger vents through the ceiling, and ropes allow control of the vents.
Other furniture traditionally in a ger includes a kitchen cabinet on the east side, bedroom cabinets on the north side with beds on either side, and tables and stools.
The five-wall ger is approximately 20-21 feet in diameter when completed.
While O’Rourke believes he is likely out of the import business, at least for the near future, he is definite that there is a strong market for the items.
“I know the market is not even close to saturated in Chadron,” he said. “Imagine what it would be in Boulder.”
Particularly for the Yak Wool Society items, O’Rourke sees a large market in affluent, cold weather areas. Yak wool has the characteristics of cashmere but at half the price, he said. Because it’s a newer industry, many of the herders, while having raised yaks for years, are not familiar with the possibilities of these value-added products. He hopes his small-scale experience shows them just how successful it could be if they approach it correctly.
“As with most things in agriculture, we do a great job with the production but a lousy job with the marketing,” he said.
O’Rourke returned to Mongolia this week for a meeting of his range management group, where he will be guiding them through the process of establishing a membership base, voting on a constitution and electing a board of directors.
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