ULAN BATOR, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia is seeking to strengthen its support for the wool, cashmere, and leather processing industries, according to a statement from the presidential press office on Thursday.
As part of the national campaign "White Gold," initiated by President Ukhnaa Khurelsukh, the Ministry of Food, Agriculture, and Light Industry, in collaboration with 10 major commercial banks, signed a financing agreement on Thursday.
Under the agreement, enterprises in these sectors are expected to receive 788.9 billion Mongolian tugriks (over 231 million U.S. dollars) in circulating capital and concessional investment loans in the coming year alone, the press office announced.
Within the framework of the national campaign, which will run until 2028, Mongolia aims to significantly enhance its cashmere processing capacity.
The Asian country is expected to increase the level of full cashmere processing from the current 20 percent to 40 percent, and expand exports from 398 million U.S. dollars to 690 million U.S. dollars under the framework of the campaign.
Additionally, the campaign seeks to increase the level of wool processing from 25 percent to 55 percent, with exports projected to grow from 52 million U.S. dollars to 119 million U.S. dollars.
Meanwhile, the level of deep processing of leather and hides is estimated to increase from 30 percent to 50 percent, and exports are expected to grow from 9.6 million U.S. dollars to 22.4 million U.S. dollars.
Altogether, the campaign is expected to significantly boost Mongolia's economic growth, creating over 8,000 new jobs across the wool, cashmere, and leather sectors, while enhancing the country's industrial capacity and export potential.
Mongolia has an average annual production capacity of 37,000 tons of sheep wool, 10,000 tons of goat cashmere, 2,000 tons of camel wool, 400 tons of yak fur, and 18 million pieces of hides and skins, according to the presidential press office.
Promoting livestock husbandry is considered a key strategy for diversifying Mongolia's mining-dependent economy.
As one of the world's last remaining nomadic nations, Mongolia had 64.7 million livestock at the end of 2023, according to the National Statistics Office. ■