Govt Urged to Stabilize Beef Price

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Indonesian Farmers Association (HKTI) has urged the government to stabilize the soaring beef price soon without importing the commodity.

"The soaring beef price which reaches Rp90 thousand a kg apparently results from a shortage of beef supplies in the market. But this does not mean that the government must import beef and leave beef trade to the market mechanism to deal with the shortage of beef supplies," HKTI Secretary General Fadli Zon said in a press statement released on Friday.

Actually, high beef price benefited cattle raisers but if the price skyrocketed it would cause a problem to customers, he said.

"The beef price which reaches Rp90 thousand a kg is the highest  compared to those of other countries which range between Rp50 thousand and Rp60 thousand a kg," he said.

However, cattle raisers could not always benefit from the high beef price, he said.

"Ideally, the high beef price should serve as incentives for cattle raisers. But the high beef price has an impact on the prices of other commodities. Therefore, the higher the beef price, the more miserable the life of the people," he said. (*/DWA/T007)