August 5, 2010

Indonesia imports meat for festive holiday in September

The government has imported 5,000 tonnes of meat to address public demand during the Idul Fitri holiday in September, Agriculture Minister Suswono said on Tuesday (Aug 3).

"This is a precautionary step given our expectations of high demand. We will prioritise local meat, but we will import meat if we are running out," Suswono said. He hopes that imported meat would not hurt local meat businesses.

He said that he hope the police and customs and excise officers will supervise shipments of imported meat at our ports to ensure we receive the amount needed, while keeping focus on loopholes that may lead to smuggling.

Local meat only fulfilled 68% of public demand, while the remaining 32% was fulfilled by imports, he said.

Some merchants have encountered difficulties selling local meat. Local meat costs around INR65,000 (US$7.30) per kilogramme, while imported meat is just INR24,500 per kilogramme, meat merchant Endang Zarkasih said.

Meanwhile, Endang said that most customers prefer imported meat because of its low price and tender quality.