February 14, 2013

 

Indonesia to use South Lampung's Bakauheni Port to unload imported cattle

 

 

The central government's plan to use Bakauheni Port in South Lampung to unload imported cattle was warmly welcomed by Indonesia's Lampung provincial administration.

 

However, it expects the central government to build a new terminal at the port so as not to disrupt the passenger traffic there. Lampung Governor Sjachroedin ZP expected the new cattle dock would be connected to a toll road and a new railway line that will be build this year.

 

The Transportation Ministry announced that it would provide special ships to transport livestock this year. Last week, in Jakarta, the ministry's director general of sea transportation, Leon Muhammad, said the government would build a number of 3,000-gross ton vessels to carry the cattle at a cost of IDR100 billion (US$10.38 million) each. The vessel will be able to carry 1,500 head of cattle.

 

In addition to Bakauheni, a special cattle wharf will also be built in Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara. Lampung and Sumba have been picked as the sites of the special cattle terminals because they are the biggest cattle producers in Indonesia. Lampung will cover beef demand in western Indonesian while Sumba will serve the eastern part of the country.

 

The special terminal and vessels are expected to be completed in the second half of this year. A number of cattle producers in Lampung warmly welcome the plan. PT Great Giant Livestock (GGL) operations director Didiek Purwanto said the special cattle vessels and terminals would expedite cattle distribution nationwide.

 

"So far, the shipments of cows from Australia to Lampung have to yield priority to passenger ferries. Most of the cattle are distressed due to lengthy docking times," he said.

 

Meanwhile, the association of beef traders in Semarang urged the Central Java provincial administration to issue a law to ban the shipment of cows outside the province on fears that doing so would decrease local supplies and affect price volatility.

 

The association's chairman, Wisnu Hermawan, said on Tuesday (Feb 12) that cows from Central Java had been sent to Lampung, West Java and Jakarta, depleting the supply of cows and further increasing local prices of beef. He said that medium-quality beef presently sold for IDR87,000 (US$9) per kilogramme while high-quality beef was priced at IDR90,000 (US$9.33) per kilogramme. On normal days, he said, good quality beef was tagged at only IDR80,000 (US$8.3) per kilogramme.

 

The problem is, according to Wisnu, once cattle producers increase the price of cattle, meat traders will also increase the price of beef. This will further influence buyers such as meatball traders and other foods.

 

Central Java is one of largest cattle supplying areas in Indonesia in addition to Sulawesi, Lampung, East Java, Yogyakarta, East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. This year the province is expected to supply Jakarta and West Java with 115,000 beef cattle.

 

Data at the Central Java Animal Husbandry and Veterinary Health Agency show that according to the 2011 animal husbandry census, the province was home to 1.9 million of beef cattle, 149,000 dairy cows and 75,000 buffaloes.

 

Agency head Whitono said that the province itself needed 330,000 beef cattle. "The supply can still meet Central Java's need for meat by the end of this year," he said.

 

Local beef trading associations, however, expressed doubts regarding the claim, saying that beef prices were still increasing. Wisnu blamed the condition on the fact that brokers from Jakarta and Bandung were willing to pay IDR1 million (US$104) up to IDR1.5 million (US$156) more expensive than local brokers.

 

"That's why we demand the provincial administration to issue a governor regulation to stop the sending of cows from Central Java to outside the province," Wisnu said, adding that East Java had successfully implemented such a regulation.

 

Responding to the association's call, Wasiman of the provincial legislative council said that the council would ask the governor to issue a circular on the ideal intensity of sending cows to West Java and Jakarta.