August 10, 2010

Indonesia cuts cattle export permits

Determined to be self sustainable for beef by 2013, the Indonesian government is not only enforcing weight restrictions on live cattle imports, but has also announced a cut in the number of export permits for Australia.

Chief executive of the Livestock Exporters Council, Lach MacKinnon, says that in the last week, the council has been told the number of permits will be cut by over 300,000 head.

"The Indonesia government has said they are going to allocate 452,000 head worth of permits to come into Indonesia between January 1 and December 31 this year," he says.

"So we have already used up about 300,000, there are about 50,000 that are no longer valid, that leaves us 90,000 for the next 6 months."

Executive director of the Cattle Council of Australia David Inall says an additional 200,000 head that previously would have gone to Indonesia could now flow onto the local market.

He says domestic prices will fall, though it is hard to tell by how much.

With the number of Australia cattle exported to Indonesia likely to fall to its lowest level in five years, beef will become more scarce in Indonesia.

Managing director of Wellard Rural Exports, Steve Meerwald, says Indonesian consumers will undoubtedly be affected.

"The cost of meat in the market place is already increasing significantly and that will have repercussions within Indonesia," he says.

"That may get some of the authorities that are involved in the enforcement of these regulations to rethink what the application or the implications are, relative to consumers within Indonesia."