Indonesia’s chief economic minister says leaving post

Reports that Indonesia would be issuing permits for another 50,000 slaughter-ready cattle immediately has also been confirmed by Australian agriculture ministry.

“I copped a lot of personal political heat to see the live cattle trade reformed”.

Djalil said the government would also seek to ensure high prices were not caused by hoarding.

Indonesia is said to be showing “strong interest” in an annual quota system to bring greater certainty to its live cattle trade with Australia.

“We’ve held a meeting” – with the ministers of trade and agriculture and the Bulog chief – “to decide on our options, including allowing more imports by Bulog”, Sofyan told reporters at the Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) on Monday.

“They haven’t visited Indonesia and from all reports they haven’t picked up the phone”.

Beef prices have reportedly risen to as much as 130,000 rupiah ($10) a kilogram in Indonesia, far above the usual price of Rp90,000.

THE Indonesian government’s ambitions to make the nation more self-sufficient in beef by restricting cattle supply from Australia have run headlong into market forces.

“Imports are only needed to meet domestic demand”, he said.

He added that the government was finalising the plan, including picking the islands for quarantine and preparing a government regulation on the new arrangement, but declined to elaborate on the potential places and exact time frame.

“There was a 112 per cent increase in exports in our first year in office compared with Labor’s last year in office – from 307,320 head to 652,355 head of cattle”.

The Australian government is concerned about the uncertainty the current system creates for Australian exporters, the spokesman for Joyce said.

Indonesian trade minister Rachmat Gobel has increased the number of permits for the importation of live cattle, Indonesian news outlets have reported, less than a month after Jakarta announced it would slash permits for Australia by 80% from 250,000 head of cattle to just 50,000 this quarter.

“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.

At present, Indonesia can only source live cattle and meat from countries wholly FMD-free as declared by the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE), particularly Australia, New Zealand, Canada and the US, in line with a previous law passed in 2009.

“We are however yet to receive any confirmation of the volume and type of cattle from the Indonesian Government”, the spokesperson said.