June 14, 2011

Indonesian cattle farmers welcome halt in Australian imports

Indonesian cattle breeders in Boyolali, Central Java, have hailed the suspension of cattle imports from Australia as they think the measure would automatically cause a rise in the price of local cows.

Local cow breeders in Boyolali would get an advantage following the suspension of imports of cows from Australia, a breeder from Selo, Boyolali, Timur, said on Friday (Jun 10).

He said if cow imports from Australia were not stopped they could hurt the price of local cows and in turn the farmers.

In view of that he hailed the suspension and hoped it would encourage farmers to boost their cattle breeding activity.

The villager of the Mount Merapi slope said local farmers in general have two cattle. The head of local animal husbandry service, Dwi Priyatmoko, also expressed his appreciation to the suspension saying it would certainly raise the price of local cattle that has plummeted so far.

Boyolali, locally popularly known as a "milk town" is one of the cow producing centers supplying almost all regions in Central Java and Jakarta.

Dwi said Boyolali supplies up to 40 tonnes of meat and averages a stock of 100 live cattle a day to other regions.

He said the price of local live cattle has dropped causing transactions to decline, causing many breeders to wait for the price to rise again.

The price of live cattle at present is only around IDR18,000 per kilogramme (US$2.10) down from IDR25,000 earlier.

"Following the suspension the price is now creeping up to IDR19,000 per kilogramme and it is expected to continue to rise in the days to come," he said. He said demand for meat from Jakarta has also been on the increase.