AKIPRESS.COM - Mongolian farmers today morning protested outside the Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry against the government’s decision to import 160 thousand tons of wheat from Russia, news.mn reported.

The ministry had earlier announced that Mongolia could fully meet domestic flour demands after harvesting a total of 420 thousand tons of wheat.

According to S.Badral, a farmer from Selenge Province – which is where most of Mongolia’s cereal crops are grown – a ton of wheat costs RUB 15,000 (USD 229) in Russia today. Mongolia is expected to import a ton of wheat for MNT 700,000-800,000 (USD 253-289) from Russia. But, Mongolian farmers sold a ton of wheat for MNT 500,000 (USD 181) last autumn.

Mongolia needs a total of 302 thousand tons of wheat in order to fully meet domestic demand for flour. In autumn, 2019, Mongolia harvested 407.6 thousand tons of wheat; 247.4 thousand tons were used for flour production, 10 thousand tons for brewing alcohol, 35 thousand tonnes for animal feed and 42 thousand for the crop reserve.