BEIJING, March 16 (Reuters) - China has donated 300 tonnes of rice and flour to Mongolia to help fend off the effects of a bitter winter in the remote southwest of the landlocked country, China's Xinhua news agency said on Tuesday.

The severe winter, or zud, has decimated flocks and isolated herders, especially in western Mongolia. The United Nations estimates 2.7 million livestock have died [ID:nTOE61O07Q].

Mongolia's foreign policy tries to balance its giant neighbours, Russia and China, but the severe winter added to a straitened state budget and could leave it more reliant on mining projects that tie its economy to China's.

At current market prices in China, the donation is worth roughly $100,000 <GRAIN/CN>.

A Chinese convoy drove the grain from Urumqi, the capital of China's frontier Xinjiang region, to the Takixken border checkpoint on Monday, where a handover ceremony was held, Xinhua cited checkpoint chief Tian Feng as saying.

Heavy snows have also hit Xinjiang, triggering avalanches that have trapped and killed Chinese miners and isolating nomads and villagers.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby; Editing by Jonathan Hopfner)

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