Discusses the distribution network within the country from how products enter to final destination, including reliability and condition of distribution mechanisms, major distribution centers, ports, etc.
Last Published: 8/8/2017

Most products enter and exit Mongolia through a few key ports of entry/exit:
To/from China:

  • Zamiin-Uud, Dornogobi province, along a spur of the Trans-Siberian Railroad and a north-south road terminating at Mongolia’s south-eastern border with China.
  • Bichigt, Sukhbaatar province, along Mongolia’s south-eastern border with China.
  • Yarant, along Mongolia’s south-western border with China.
  • Gashiinsukhait, Omnogobi province, along Mongolia’s south-central border with China.
  • Shivee Khuren, Omnogobi province, along Mongolia’s south-central border with China.
To/from Russia:
  • Sukhbaatar City, Selenge province, along a spur of the Trans-Siberian Railroad at Mongolia’s north-central border with Russia.
  • Tsagaannuur, Bayan-Olgii province, along Mongolia’s north-western border with Russia.
  • Ereentsav, Dornod province, along Mongolia’s north-eastern border with Russia.

Zamiin-Uud is the most important of the six ports of entry, and through it passes most of Mongolia’s imports and exports, as well as many key Russian commodities — including petroleum products, wood, and copper — bound for the Chinese market.

Products enter and leave Zamiin-Uud or Sukhbaatar by rail, truck, or car.  Products leaving Mongolia by rail are usually inspected by the Mongolian Customs Authority at bonded warehouses in Ulaanbaatar before being sent south or north.  Products entering Mongolia by rail are usually routed unopened to customs inspection facilities in Ulaanbaatar.  From Ulaanbaatar, products are distributed throughout the country.  Increasingly, heavy equipment bound for Gobi mining sites clears customs in Zamiin-Uud, Sainshand, Shivee Khuren, or Gashuunsukhait border crossings for more direct shipment to the southern Mongolian mine sites.

Products entering Mongolia by truck or auto are inspected at border crossing points.  In most cases, these are small traders bringing in limited quantities of food and dry goods for direct sale in rural Mongolia.  Products bound for sale in Ulaanbaatar and in other Mongolian cities are trucked from customs facilities to wholesale and retail outlets dispersed through the cities.  Distribution of products to rural Mongolia is usually accomplished by small- and medium-size retailers who travel to urban centers in the Mongolian countryside by rented truck or auto.  They purchase goods at local wholesale venues, transport them back to their rural retail outlets, and pass the additional costs to their customers.

Limited access to cold chain facilities, foreign phytosanitary restrictions, inadequate veterinary disease controls, and infrastructure bottlenecks at ports of entry and along transit routes hinder distribution of perishable food, livestock and agricultural products within Mongolia and across its borders.

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