Annual consumption of meat in Mongolia is about 6-8 million heads of livestock. We produce 200-250 million tons of meat and fully supply our meat demands through our own domestic production. 30 percent of the net meat sale is comprised of beef, 40 percent is of lamb, 10 percent is of goat meat, and about 15 percent is of horse meat. The production of pork is relatively underdeveloped; we produce about 200 tons of pork per year, which is not sufficient enough to meet the demands of our processed meat production.
The weighted average of an annual consumption of meat and meat products per person is 100-120 kilograms. However, depending on the urban or rural area the numbers many vary. For example, in year 2004, the weighted average annual consumption of meat and meat products per person in an urban area was 74.4 kg, which is lower than the rural area¡¦s meat and meat product consumption by 37.4 percent.
By the standard on ¡§Recommended amount of nutritious substances needed for the population¡¨ that has been approved by the minister of Health in 1997, it is recommended that each person should consume 84 kg of meat annually. If we compare this recommended rate to the urban consumption rate of year 2004, the demand was met by 88 percent.
Compared to the consumption rate of meat and meat products of other countries, we are at the same level with countries like: Dutch, Australia, and New Zealand.
We have 28 meat processing and producing factories with a capacity to produce 85 million tons of meat and from 2001 to 2004 we had about 10 billion tugrik¡¦s invested in this sector, which helped build about 10 factories with advanced technology and equipment.
Currently, we have about 70 small and medium enterprises that produce packed meat, semi processed meat products, frozen dumplings, and etc. that helps meet the demand of the population.
Therefore, meat production