April 11, 2013

As Indonesian importers claimed that they have met their cattle import quota for the first quarter of 2013, it is expected that the price of beef will decline in May as most of their allocation will be imported in the second quarter of the year.

The average price of beef is around IDR90,000 (US$9.27) per kilogramme, almost double of the usual IDR40,000-50,000 (US$4.13-5.16).

PT Great Giant Livestock director Didiek Purwanto said Tuesday (Apr 9) that his company had complied with their first-quarter target of importing 3,600 cattle out of their total quota of 16,700 in the first half of the year. Importers will put most of the imported cattle on the market in the second quarter because they have to be fattened up.

Meat Producers and Feedlot Association (Apfindo) executive director Joni Liano confirmed that the companies had yet to meet 50% of quota for the first half of this year. The rest of the quota will be imported by May or June.

"We'll see more importation between May and June because we have to meet growing demand ahead of Idul Fitri in August," Joni said.

The importers denied the recent statement of Coordinating Economic Minister Hatta Rajasa, that the country was actually self-sufficient in beef and poor distribution by importers was behind the price increases.

After a meeting with ministries on beef last week, Hatta said that the importers had not met the first-half quota and his office would order them to import more and push down the prices.

Data from the Agriculture Ministry released on Monday (Apr 8) shows that as of April 5, 8,534 tonnes of beef had been imported so far this year. The government target is 19,200 tonnes before June. Over 70,000 cattle, or less than half of the government's target, have been imported. The government has asked that 60% of this year's quota be imported by June. The allocated import quota for the year comprises of 32,000 tonnes of frozen beef and 267,000 head of livestock.

Indonesian Meat Importers Association (Aspidi) executive director Thomas Sembiring said that importers had exhausted their quota, and imported 2,666 tonnes of beef monthly.

"Unlike imported beef, imported livestock does not immediately affect price in the marketplace, because they have to be fattened up for some month and do not go directly onto the market to meet daily needs," Thomas said.