Trending on X, 6 PM: President's Office and Nyambaatar, Oyu Tolgoi exports, ₮2tn budget cut, Brazil markets, Nömrög, Enkhjin, Hohhot, Fukuda

Here are the eight topics Mongolian users discussed most on X today between 14:13 and 18:30. The President's Office rebuttal of Kh. Nyambaatar, reports of a sharp slowdown in Oyu Tolgoi's copper concentrate exports, and the decision to cut the 2027 budget by ₮2 trillion travelled furthest. Post metrics were taken at 18:29 (Ulaanbaatar time).

1. President's Office rebuts Kh. Nyambaatar point by point (new development)

A day after it announced a response, the Office of the President held a press conference today and answered former Ulaanbaatar mayor Kh. Nyambaatar's claims about President U. Khurelsukh's "hidden assets". It was the most-viewed topic of this window. According to iSee.mn and Mpress.mn, the Office's press chief Ts. Ganzorig said the President has not travelled to Australia in 12 years, so the claim that he owns a house there is groundless. He said the "Anduud Tower" and "United Mall" have no link to the President, and that the Baga Tenger houses shown in a video belong to other individuals and a company. He said the President did order a detached house near Baga Tenger, paid from his own savings: $360,000 in 2022 and about ₮200 million in 2025, matching his asset declaration.

Ganzorig also said the Office had received information that Nyambaatar is preparing to seek asylum in Canada. That is the Office's claim and has not been independently confirmed. Some users posting under #ОрлогооНотол ("prove your income") demanded that the President explain in person, while others backed the rebuttal.

2. Oyu Tolgoi copper concentrate exports slow at Gashuunsukhait

iToim.mn reports that until early October, 13–15 convoys of copper concentrate crossed the Gashuunsukhait–Gantsmod border each day. Since October 15 only 3–4 a day have gone through. By the site's estimate, Oyu Tolgoi has lost about $300 million in export opportunities over the past 14 days, and the Chinese side has not clearly explained why. Finance Minister Z. Mendsaikhan said exports through the port are down by about 40%, and that China has said maintenance work at the port will continue until October 31. He added that copper concentrate exports this year have already reached 2 million tonnes, above the 1.8 million planned. iToim wrote that the minister did not say why copper exports specifically had fallen.

3. 2027 budget revenue and spending each to be cut by ₮2 trillion (new development)

Bloomberg TV Mongolia reports that the chair of parliament's Budget Standing Committee announced a ₮2 trillion cut to both total spending and balanced revenue in the 2027 budget. Total spending would fall from ₮43.6 trillion to ₮41 trillion. Because revenue and spending fall by the same amount, the ₮2.3 trillion deficit stays unchanged. The change follows the government's withdrawal of a bill that would have used ₮2 trillion of Oyu Tolgoi dividends to fund infrastructure projects. It is a new step beyond the ₮1.12 trillion cut proposal covered in this morning's roundup. Separately, iToim published researchers' criticism that next year's budget has high spending, uncertain revenue and too little detail.

4. Brazil's markets plunge after Lula's re-election (new development)

This morning's roundup covered Lula da Silva winning a fourth term. The market sell-off that followed was widely shared by Mongolian users. Valor International and G1 report that the Ibovespa index fell 13.88% on Monday, its steepest one-day drop since 2020. The dollar rose 8.21% against the real, its biggest one-day gain since 1999. Reuters reported that trading was halted for 30 minutes after the index fell 10% shortly after the open.

Full story:

5. Team flies in to assess Nömrög fire damage from the air (new development)

The Nömrög Strictly Protected Area administration said a support team of experts for the fire-damage working group has flown to the reserve from Khalkhgol soum centre. iKon.mn reports that 469,000 hectares, or 79.8% of the reserve, burned. Vehicles cannot reach mountainous, marshy and snow-covered areas, so the team will reach those points by air to assess the damage. UBN reported that two aircraft carrying nine people left this morning, one of them provided by Mobicom. Posts criticising what users saw as merely disciplinary penalties for the officials responsible also circulated.

6. Wrestling World Championships: T. Enkhjin reaches the semifinal

At the Astana 2026 World Wrestling Championships, International Master of Sport T. Enkhjin beat home wrestler Beibit Seidual in the women's freestyle 65 kg quarterfinal to reach the semifinal. At 50 kg, Honoured Athlete D. Otgonjargal lost her quarterfinal 4–5 to Kazakhstan's Zeinep Bayanova and is waiting to see whether she gets a repechage bout, UBN reported.

7. Ulaanbaatar and Hohhot mark 35 years as sister cities (new development)

During the Hohhot visit mentioned in yesterday's roundup, Ulaanbaatar Governor B. Purevdagva met Hohhot Mayor Lian Dong. Sonin.mn reports that they discussed cooperation on urban planning, public utilities, reducing air pollution, green spaces and tourism. A congratulatory post on the 35th anniversary of the sister-city relationship by Chinese Ambassador to Mongolia Cao Li was among the most-liked posts of this window.

8. Former Japanese Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda dies

MONTSAME, citing NHK, reports that the ruling Liberal Democratic Party announced former Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda died of heart failure at a Tokyo hospital on October 22, aged 90.

Methodology: We ranked posts from about 200 major news and influential accounts found through X search, plus more than 50 keyword searches, by an engagement score (likes + 2× reposts + views/100), and checked the facts against news sites. Posts that could not be verified or that carried a risk of defamation were left out. Views expressed by individuals on X do not represent the position of egov.mn.