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art of the additional live cattle the government has pledged to import to meet domestic needs in the second half of 2013 will be shipped today (Tuesday) from Darwin, Australia, an official has said.

The Agriculture Ministry'€™s quarantine agency chief Banun Harpini said if things went according to plan, 1,600 heads of live cattle would be transported by sea freight on Tuesday evening.

A team of veterinarians deployed by the agency would inspect the cattle for pre-shipment quarantine. The veterinarians would also accompany the cattle onboard, according to Banun.

'€œOther necessary quarantine procedures will be performed onboard the ship. By doing pre-shipment inspections we hope the cattle can go straight to the slaughterhouse and not undergo further quarantine in Indonesia,'€ Banun told reporters on Monday.

Such a measure was taken to ensure additional imported cattle could quickly enter the market, she said. '€œThe next scheduled shipment will be on Aug. 5,'€ she said.

The 1,600 heads of live cattle '€“ with a live weight between 500 to 550 kilograms each '€” is part of the additional 25,000 ready-to-slaughter live cattle that the government has pledged to bring in to cope with rising demands and to curb skyrocketing prices.

The government has allocated an 80,000 ton quota for beef import this year, including 267,000 heads of live cattle that must be fattened in feedlots for around three months.

The government, however, has scrapped import quotas for prime cuts and granted the State Logistic Agency (Bulog) a permit to import an additional 3,000 tons of beef to anticipate rising prices, just like in Ramadhan and Idul Fitri last year when rising demands and declining stock saw prices reach around Rp 80,000 a kilogram.

This move is expected to deflate prices at around Rp 75,000 a kilogram.

The price of beef, however, keeps rising during this year'€™s Islamic festivities, reaching around Rp 93,000 a kilogram, while several areas in Jakarta see beef marketed at around Rp 120,000 a kilogram.

The government decided last week to remove import quotas for beef and live cattle to stabilize domestic prices and curtail inflation, to bring in 25,000 heads of live cattle to help meet rising needs for the rest of the year, and to grant the Trade Ministry the right to set a beef import quota due to red tape.

Previously, the import was made after a recommendation from the Agriculture Ministry.

Meat Producers and Feedlot Association (Apfindo) executive director Joni Liano said currently only one company had secured a permit to import the additional cattle, with another 10 companies awaiting approval.

Joni said the company granted an import permit was expected to bring in 6,500 heads of live cattle.

He said the biggest obstacle to bringing in the cattle was finding ships to transport the cattle from Australia.

'€œAccording to reports from our members, there are only a few ships to carry the cattle. The ships are scheduled to sail on July 24 and 26,'€ he said.