Meat plays an important role in thediets of the majority of Mongolians. Since the economic andpolitical transition in the early 1990s, seasonal meat pricefluctuations have become increasingly marked. In parallel,Mongolia is becoming increasingly urbanized, and urbanconsumers are dependent upon markets to access food,including meat, for household food security. These twotrends have meant that a rising number of urban residentsare vulnerable to fluctuations of price in one of their mainstaples. Government has responded to this by trying toinfluence the price of meat through a price stabilizationpolicy under which public funds support the purchase andstorage of meat and the release of these reserves duringperiods of peak prices. While some public intervention tosmooth prices is a legitimate area for policy engagement,this policy note concludes that there is no evidence thatthe current policy has an impact on prices, and worse still,it may even discourage private meat storage. This is set ina context of relatively low budget allocation (byinternational standards) to the agricultural sector. What isrequired is a more comprehensive approach for developing themeat market and the livestock sector more broadly, and withregard to price stabilization, the consideration of a numberof alternative policy responses that limits governmentexpenditure and encourage market-based solutions.
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