June 13, 2011

Indonesia aims for self-sufficiency after cattle ban

Indonesia will review its meat import policy following Australia's suspension of cattle exports to the country and may use this as a opportunity to speed up efforts to achieve self-sufficiency, its president said.

The Australian government announced on Wednesday (June 8) the suspension of cattle exports worth AUD318 million (US$336 million) to its top market for six months after a media report sparked an outcry over animal welfare standards in Indonesia.

"We must seek a solution and decide on our short, middle, and long-term policies, because the problem created by Australia's decision, if not responded to well, could hurt our meat supply," said President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. "Many countries in the world get sanctions or an embargo but can rise and find a good solution, so this is momentum, an opportunity ... to make sure we could be self-sufficient in meat," he added.

Indonesia has already said it wants to achieve self-sufficiency in meat by 2014 but has planned this before without success. The country has also failed to achieve self-sufficiency in rice in recent years, though is now stepping up production of the staple. Indonesia consumes about 430,000 tonnes of beef annually and imports about 16% from Australia, New Zealand and Canada. It imports an average 700,000 feeder steers annually.

Officials have said the country has enough live cattle and meat supplies to last four months, but the suspension came at a difficult time as the most populous Muslim country prepares to celebrate the Ramadan festive month in August.

Prabowo Respatiyo Caturroso, an official at the agriculture ministry, said Indonesia was already looking into ways to speed up meat provision by 2014, such as banning productive female cattle from slaughter.

Yudhoyono said he would hold another meeting in late June to formulate the country's policy towards meat self-sufficiency.