Indonesia stock index falls 2% to its lowest since March 2014

He did not say where they would come from, but much of Indonesia’s beef is shipped from Australia.

Indonesia will issue permits to import another 50,000 cattle, the government said, after beef prices soared and butchers went on strike following a decision to dramatically reduce shipments from Australia.

The ABC reports that Rachmat has waived the standard requirement for the second 50,000 animals to be fattened in Indonesia for 120 days before slaughter, and that the state-owned logistics agency BULOG is to import cattle ready for slaughter.

This is not the first time Indonesia has issued extra permits during a quarter. “A lot of the ships have been deployed to other jobs now”, she said.

Farmers in Australia, the world’s third-largest beef exporter, last year supplied around 40 percent of the beef consumed in Indonesia, Reuters said. “The government has to see what’s going on, check out the prices”.

“And in the last 11 months – September 2014 to August 2015 – we have exported 674,509 head; a 119pc increase on the 307,320 head of cattle exported in Labor’s final year in office”.

According to Endang, the price of beef at the traditional market has been at Rp 120,000 ($8,85) per kilogram since before the end-of-Ramadan festivities in mid-July.

“The government is saying that they want to stabilise prices but the manner in which the permits are being issued has an inflationary effect”, she said.

“Fluctuating quota levels create uncertainty that in turn creates additional costs which are passed on to Indonesian consumers and industry, leading to higher food prices”, he said.

“It’s about internal politics in Indonesia and nationalistic sentiment and despite being a solid partner we’ve been caught up in the argy-bargy and become a bit of collateral damage”, she said.

“If confirmed, this will be good news for our producers and exporters who will have more options about where to sell their quality livestock”.

“These partnership meetings provide another opportunity for the Minister to engage with the Indonesian Government about this important trade”.