Mongolia's foreign trade up 24.9 pct in first 3 quarters

ULAN BATOR, Oct. 10 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's foreign trade volume rose 24.9 percent year on year to 9.6 billion U.S. dollars in the first three quarters of this year, official data showed Wednesday.

Mongolia's exports increased 15.3 percent to reach over 5.2 billion U.S. dollars while imports surged 39 percent to more than 4.3 billion U.S. dollars in the January-September period, resulting in a trade surplus of 931.7 million U.S. dollars, the Mongolian Customs General Administration (MCGA) said.

The mining industry accounted for 85.9 percent of total exports, according to the MCGA.

The MCGA said that Mongolia has traded with a total of 151 countries in the first three quarters and exported its goods and services to 71 countries among them.