RI continues to import NZ milk

PURWOKERTO, Central Java (JP): Indonesia imports about 30 percent of the country's milk demand from New Zealand due to the shortage of local milk production, a senior official said here on Tuesday.

Director General of Animal Husbandry Sofyan Sudrajat said Indonesia, which has only about 400,000 dairy cows, was only able to supply 70 percent of the local milk demand.

"We need an average of 450,000 tons of fresh milk every day, and we cannot meet that demand with our own dairies," he told The Jakarta Post.

Sofyan admitted that the government's budget for animal husbandry was still too small. "Ideally we need Rp 1 trillion, while the government has allocated only 10 percent of that amount," he said.

Sofyan said that Indonesia still also imported about 20 percent of the local meat needs from Australia and New Zealand.(45/sur)