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Bowdoin College

Publication Date

Spring 2019

Program Name

Mongolia: Nomadism, Geopolitics, and the Environment

Abstract

Since Mongolia’s transition to a market economy cashmere goats' population quintupled and their share of the nation’s total live-stock doubled. Cashmere is Mongolia’s third largest export and herders’ primary source of cash income. However, Mongolian cashmere processing facilities operate well below capacity because they cannot compete with high prices paid by Chinese traders. The latest intervention in a series of industry reforms is the four year Cashmere Program, which is being implemented by the Mongolian Ministry of Agriculture and Light Industry. In order to increase the amount of cashmere processed and exported from Mongolia, the program invests in domestic processing firms who cannot operate at full capacity due to inadequate working capital. This paper interviews changers and processing facilities to better understand the outcomes of the policy at the firm level. The study finds that issuance of working capital loans in SMEs has been delayed for the past two year, negatively impacting the companies and the sector.

Disciplines

Agricultural and Resource Economics | Animal Sciences | Animal Studies | Asian Studies | East Asian Languages and Societies | Entrepreneurial and Small Business Operations | Fiber, Textile, and Weaving Arts | Growth and Development | International Business | Operations and Supply Chain Management | Social and Cultural Anthropology | Work, Economy and Organizations

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