Indonesian Agriculture Ministry had asked the Australian government to tighten its supervision over cattle exports to Indonesia to avoid transactions in violation of Indonesian import regulations.

The request was made following the discovery of the illegal importation of cattle from Australia recently.

The Quarantine Office at Jakarta's Tanjung Priok port last May 22 detained 2,256 cattle imported from Australia including one dead animal and two weak ones. The importer, PT SP, proved to have brought in the cattle with a license (SPP) that had expired on April 30, 2010.

Because of the irregularity, the agriculture ministry had ordered PT SP to re-export the cattle, and forbidden the company to import cattle for a period of six months.

After PT SP received the sanctions, the Australian government had sent a letter to the agriculture ministry stating that the cattle export was legal and PT SP had submitted all the required documents to the Australian authorities.

The case involving PT SP was the first of its kind, according to the ministry.