Mongolia Export Income Falls 2.6% in 2013 as Coal Sales Slump

Mongolia’s export income slipped 2.6 percent last year amid a decline in shipments of coal, the nation’s biggest earner.

Earnings were $4.27 billion in 2013, compared with $4.38 billion a year earlier, the National Statistics Office said on its website. Coal shipments declined 41 percent by value.

The slump in earnings underscores the challenges facing Mongolia as economic growth cools, foreign investment declines and the nation’s mineral boom slows amid protracted disputes with key investors. China accounted for 87 percent of exports last year by value, today’s data showed.

Coal exports fell to $1.12 billion last year, from $1.9 billion a year earlier, the agency said today. Volumes fell to 18.3 million metric tons, from 20.9 million tons.

Copper concentrate shipments, the nation’s second-biggest earner, rose 13 percent to $949 million, boosted by the start of shipments from Rio Tinto Group’s Oyu Tolgoi mine. Exports of the concentrate by volume rose 13 percent to 649,800 tons.

Sales to China fell to $3.7 billion last year, from $4.06 billion a year earlier, the data showed.

To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Kohn in Ulaanbaatar at mkohn5@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Jason Rogers at jrogers73@bloomberg.net

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