Mongolia's foreign trade down 21.3 pct in Jan.-Feb.

ULAN BATOR, March 13 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia's foreign trade volume declined by 21.3 percent year on year to 1.5 billion U.S. dollars in the first two months of this year, the country's National Statistics Office (NSO) said Friday.

The decline is a result of exports and imports contracting by 29.5 percent and 10.4 percent year on year, respectively, the NSO said in a statement.

The decrease in foreign trade is largely related to a temporary suspension of coal deliveries across its southern border into China as part of precautionary measures against the spread of COVID-19, according to the statistics agency.

Coal is the landlocked country's main commodity export.