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MongoliaTrading Partners
Since 1930 Mongolia's predominant trading partners have been
communist countries. Between 1930 and 1952, the Soviet Union was
Mongolia's sole trading partner. Trade with China began in 1953
and reached its zenith in 1960, when it accounted for 18 percent
of all foreign trade. Trade with other communist countries also
began in the 1950s and intensified in the 1960s after Mongolia's
entry into Comecon. In 1966 trade with the Soviet Union fell to
60 percent, but it has steadily risen since then, attaining 80
percent in the late 1980s.
In 1986 communist countries received 96.7 percent of
Mongolian exports: Comecon countries absorbed 94.2 percent; other
communist nations, such as China and North Korea, imported 2.5
percent. Capitalist countries, such as Japan and Britain,
imported 3.3 percent of all Mongolian exports. Communist nations
provided Mongolia with 98.3 percent of its imports; Comecon
countries supplied 96.7 percent, and other communist states, 1.6
percent. Western countries provided 1.7 percent of Mongolian
imports. Efforts to expand trade with Western countries were
hampered by lack of hard currency.
In 1986 foreign trade with the Soviet Union, including
credits, totaled 1.5 billion rubles, of which exports amounted to
400 million rubles and imports to 1.1 billion rubles. The Soviet
Union provided Mongolia with machines and equipment for
agriculture, light, food, mining, and construction materials
industries; oil products, rolled ferrous metals; instruments; and
consumer goods. In return Mongolia supplied minerals, processed
foodstuffs, and such consumer goods as cashmere and camel hair
products.
In 1989 little information was available on the value of
Mongolian trade with other countries, but types of commodities
exchanged were known. Hungary exported equipment and spare parts
or light industry and food processing plants, telecommunications
and laboratory equipment, medicine, textiles, and cosmetics; it
imported animal hides, furs, leather products, and processed
meats. Czechoslovakia supplied diesel generators; equipment for
leather, footwear, and clothing industries; equipment for cement
plants; medical equipment; chemicals; buses; medicines; and
consumer goods. It received copper, tin, and tungsten
concentrates; fluorite; and wool, leather, and furs from
Mongolia. East Germany provided machinery and equipment for the
light and the food industries, electrical and scientific
equipment, and chemicals in exchange for mining products, leather
and fur clothing, carpets, and wool. China exported textiles,
machinery, fruit, and light industrial products and imported
timber, wool, sheepskin, cashmere, and fur. Mongolian-Chinese
trade amounted to US$33 million in 1988. In 1985 MongolianYugoslav trade totaled US$8.2 million; Yugoslavia exported US$5.4
million and Mongolia exported US$2.8 million worth of unspecified
goods. In 1988 trade between Mongolia and Japan totaled US$30
million, half of Mongolia's trade with Western and non-communist
countries. Mongolia sent industrial raw materials,
semimanufactured goods, and ready-made apparel of cashmere and
camel wool in exchange for electronic and technical equipment,
including color television sets and small power generators.
Data as of June 1989
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