Mongolia vows to clean up coal trade after fury over China deals
Al JazeeraLast month, protestors stormed the Mongolian capital to denounce corruption in the country’s coal trade. Starting next month, Erdenes-Tavantolgoi JSC — the country’s largest state-owned coal miner — will cease signing direct sales contracts with buyers in neighbouring China, which last year purchased 84 percent of Mongolia’s total exports. “This will help give us experience in selling coal on an online platform.” Sandwiched between Russia and China, Mongolia is one of the world’s most sparsely populated countries with 3.3 million people spread across a landscape slightly smaller than Alaska. “The initial trade shows that coal contracts will help to improve the transparency of the coal trade and increase sales revenue,” Javkhlan Ivanov, the exchange’s chief financial officer, told Al Jazeera. While a commodities exchange could benefit both buyers and sellers of coal in the long-run, and may help placate public distrust over the coal trade, more needs to be done to calm public outrage over longstanding issues related to corruption and quality of life, Amar said.
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Mongolians protest alleged theft of coal sold to China
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