ABSTRACT
This chapter analyses the driving factors of realigning commodity chains and their consequences, alongside world market integration of Mongolian livestock producers during the socialist and post-socialist period. It argues that new market structures foster social differentiation that shapes the Mongolian pastoral economy of today. The chapter investigates the transformations of Mongolia's pastoral economy since 1990 and it reveals three key developments: during the early capitalist years many of the new nomads, those who received animals after the privatization of the former socialist production units; orientated towards Moscow for decades, meat commodity chains almost completely broke down; and while the trade value from marketing sheep, cattle, horse, and camel products lost of importance, the sale of cashmere hair from goats became the major source of income for Mongolian herders. The future of mobile livestock keeping in Mongolia however largely depends on government policy that will have to meet the needs of the herder households and open new export markets for meat.
