Cattle and beef stocks running low

Cattle and beef stocks running low

JAKARTA (JP): Beef may become a rarity soon due to a sharp
decline in imported cows and beef, the chairman of the Indonesian
Retail Merchants Association (Aprindo) said yesterday.

Steve Sondakh told members of the House of Representatives
that stock in supermarkets and other retail outlets was
sufficient for only one month.

He declined to give details of stocks in warehouses of Aprindo
members.

Steve said the 80 percent drop in the value of rupiah against
the U.S. dollar since July last year had made imported live
cattle exorbitantly expensive.

As the result, he said, the meat supply from cattle-rearing
farms, which mostly use live cattle from Australia, had fallen
sharply, he told the House's Commission III for agriculture,
forestry, transmigration and food affairs.

Indonesia imports both meat and live cattle from Australia to
meet local demand.

"Without further help to import more cows, we will face a
scarcity of beef in the domestic market in the coming months,"
Steve said.

The cattle-rearing program needed both technical and financial
assistance, he added.

The Ministry of Agriculture, in cooperation with other
agencies, has been developing cattle-rearing farms in seven
provinces of East Java, Central Java, Yogyakarta, Lampung, South
and West Sumatra and West Nusa Tenggara since 1996.

Last year, the ministry imported 350,586 live cows from
Australia, New Zealand and the United States for the project.

Steve said that it would be futile to rely on local meat
production because it had also been declining since early late
last year due to the soaring price of feedmeal.

"We are also facing a crisis in poultry meat because the
soaring prices of feedmeal. Only big scale livestock and poultry
farms can survive in this situation," he added.

According to data from the ministry, Indonesia's production of
livestock meat reached 1.71 million tons last year, while
consumption stood at 1.75 million tons.

This year, meat production is expected to reach 1.92 million
tons, with consumption at 1.93 million tons. (gis)