March 10, 2011
Indonesia to decrease Australian beef imports
Indonesia will continue to try to place limits on imports of Australian beef and the country is also intending to decrease imports of Australian cattle by around 200,000 head this year.
The Indonesian government wants to limit imports to 500,000 head of cattle and 50,000 tonnes of boxed, chilled beef.
Vice Minister for agriculture, Bayu Krisnamurti, hoped the cut will support the local industry.
"Our basic policy is that imports are only needed to fulfil the gap between the demands of the Indonesian market and our own production capacity," he said.
The government has tried these restrictions in the past and achieved only marginal cuts.
Indonesia is aiming for beef self sufficiency by 2014.
Australia's Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig, has been in Jakarta to discuss market access but was unable to say if he expects any change to the restrictions.