With a modernized factory, new management techniques, and investment from abroad, Gobi continued to prosper when it was completely privatized in 2007. However, the company faced significant historical problems that an upgraded factory and new products alone could not solve. When the cashmere industry in Mongolia took off in the 1990s, it quickly became one of the country’s top exports. Traditional nomadic herders soon found themselves with a lot of demand, not only within Mongolia, but also from abroad. Even though Gobi purchased a large amount of raw cashmere from herders, the demand was so great that a “black market” arose in the cashmere industry. The vast wilderness of the Mongolian border meant that cashmere smuggling became commonplace, and by the mid 1990s such illegal activity represented between 20 and 50 % of all Mongolian cashmere exports.