June 11, 2012

The Jakarta Beef Committee has demonstrated at Indonesia's Ministry of Agriculture, demanding that the government include a beef import quota of 50,000 tonnes in the second semester of 2012.

According to the committee chairman, Sarman Simanjorang, the additional beef import quota was very important to provide for the time of fasting (Ramadhan), Eid Fitr and the New Year holiday. He said that the 66% cuts in the beef import quota, imposed by the government in 2012, had resulted in price increases of 38%, as well as a shortage of beef at both distributor and retailer levels.

Simanjorang said, "The current price of beef has risen from IDR65,000 (US$6.88) per kilogrammes to IDR90,000 (US$9.53) per kilogrammes. If it is not alleviated by increasing the beef import quota, the price could reach IDR200,000 (US$21.17) per kilogrammes."

General secretary of the Indonesian Retail Association, Satria Ahmadi, confirmed the committee's claim. He said that, due to the reduction in the beef import quota, beef supply for retail fell by 21%. "And our earnings were down about 11.73%," he added.

This year, the Ministry of Agriculture set a quota of beef imports at 34,000 tonnes. This number was far smaller than last year, when it reached 100,000 tonnes. The beef import quota of 34,000 tonnes was divided into 22,000 tonnes for semester one and 13,800 tonnes for semester two.