July 9, 2010

 

Indonesia works at self-sufficiency in beef

In order to achieve self-sufficiency by 2014, the Indonesian government is directing efforts at restricting beef imports and increasing domestic production simultaneously.

 

"Currently, the domestic production is improving. Imports from January to June reached 56,000 tonnes and in the future, they will be controlled further to assure realisation of self-sufficiency," vice minister of agriculture Bayu Krisnamurthi said.

 

The government would only allow beef imports for restaurants that need meat with certain specifications that cannot be met domestically.

 

"Their need is very small compared to total beef demand," he said after attending a coordination meeting on stabilisation of basic necessary prices at the ministry of trade.

 

He said the needs of restaurants only reached 100-150 tonnes a month or 1,200-1,800 tonnes a year which is far smaller than the households' and industries' needs.

 

He said the needs of households reached 340,000 tonnes a year while industries needed 65,000 tonnes a year.

 

Besides controlling imports, the government would also increase the capacity of domestic beef production so that it could meet the national needs in 2014. He said the agriculture ministry also would increase the cattle herd in the country by 11.23% to 14.23 million in 2014.

 

In 2007, the domestic beef production totalled 210,800 tonnes, increasing to 250,800 tonnes in 2009, while national beef consumption totalled 325,900 tonnes in 2009 up from 314,000 tonnes in 2007.

 

To meet beef consumption in 2007, the government imported feeder stocks reaching 60,800 tonnes and beef totalling 64,000 tonnes. In 2009, imports of feeder stocks rose to 72,800 tonnes and beef 70,000 tonnes.

 

Bayu said until July 2010, the price of beef remained relatively stable with a change of only around 0.02%.

 

The government keeps monitoring the development of the beef price and production to assure supply will not be disrupted especially ahead of the Islamic fasting month and post-fasting holiday.

 

He said the government would also facilitate links between producing and consuming regions.

 

"In Central Java there is a hike in beef supply. The region may be linked to Jakarta whose consumption is big," he said.