ULAN BATOR, Oct. 31 (Xinhua) -- Mongolia exported more than 31 thousand tons of meat and meat products in the first three quarters of 2018, an increase of roughly 20 percent compared to last year, official data showed Wednesday.

More than half of the total exported meat in the first three quarters of this year, or 16,741 tons, was horse meat according to the Mongolian Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Light Industry.

Mongolia currently exports meat and meat products to China, Russia, Kazakhstan, Japan, Iran and Vietnam.

The Asian country, one of the last nomadic countries in the world, has more than 66.2 million livestock animals as of the end of 2017.

Mongolia has been striving to develop its food and agriculture sector in a bid to diversify its mining-dependent economy. It aims to raise meat exports tenfold in the coming years.

Currently, there are some 40 meat processing enterprises in the country with special licenses to export meat and meat products.