Beef Reference Price to Raise

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The Ministry of Trade plans to hike the beef reference price to Rp76 thousand per kg, as the current price is still based on the rupiah exchange rate of Rp ten thousand per US dollar.

"We have decided to change the beef reference price because the rupiah exchange rate against the Greenback has declined to Rp12 thousand per US dollar," Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan stated.

Gita noted that the increase in the US dollar exchange rate against the rupiah was the determining factor for raising the beef reference price, as Indonesia still depends on beef imports from Australia in order to meet its domestic needs.

"To tackle this problem, we need to increase domestic beef production," the minister remarked here on Friday.

In a recently held coordination meeting with the Chief Economic Minister, he proposed the import of productive female cows in an effort to increase the domestic beef production.

The minister believed that the decision to import female cows will not affect the beef prices at the farmers' level. The domestic cattle population was still small.

"We can further reduce beef imports if the domestic production increases," he added.

Of late, there has been a rise in Indonesia's beef imports. According to the Quarantine Body (Barantan) of the Agriculture Ministry, Indonesia's beef imports rose to 55,840.5 tons in 2013 from 41,027 tons in 2012.

Barantan Chief Banun Harpini reported that the imports of live feedlot cows totaled 312,667 in 2013, up from 297,462 in 2012.

"The imports of live beef cattle reached 94,949 in 2013," Banun claimed, adding that there were no imports of live beef cattle during the year 2012.

Minister Gita recently expressed hope that the revision of the Law No. 18/2009 on Livestock and Animal Health will be accelerated to expedite beef procurement through imports. "I call on the concerned parties to fast-track the revision of the law, so that it will enable us to import beef from countries on a zone-based system, rather than on a country-based system," the minister quoted during the coordination meeting.

He explained that the revision of the law had reached a stage where the checklist of problems will be reviewed by the Ministry of Agriculture. We expect that the process will be completed by the end of January 2014, at the latest.

"If the checklist is already discussed, the revision of the law will also be carried out soon. It will give us the freedom to import cattle," the minister noted. (*/DWA)