T

rade Minister Gita Wirjawan has said the Trade Ministry as well as the Agriculture Ministry next week will issue two separate regulations on the import of live cattle and beef in addition to horticulture products for next year. The rules will refer to parity price set by the government to replace import quotas.

The Trade Ministry'€™s director general for foreign trade, Bachrul Chairi, meanwhile, claimed that the quota system change to a price-based system would be more effective as it would balance the interests of local breeders and consumers.

Meat and live cattle imports would be allowed only when domestic beef prices increased by more than 15 percent from the parity price, he said.

'€œWhen the price doesn'€™t go down, we will import. But the reference price takes into consideration the interests of breeders, consumers and their purchasing power. We'€™ve found that the figure, in our estimate, can accommodate all interests,'€ Bachrul told reporters.

Bachrul said that the parity price of horticulture products would be renewed every quarter, while that of beef might be reviewed after a three-month period.

Both ministries planned to pass another regulation to arrange the import of live cattle and beef for the last quarter of this year, Gita said.

According to Bachrul, the government will add an import quota of 6,000 tons of frozen beef and 60,000 heads of live cattle that will be equal to 9,000 tons of meat, with both types of imports totaling 15,000 tons of meat. The first delivery was expected in early September, Bachrul said.

This year, the government has allowed an import quota of 80,000 tons of meat, comprising 267,000 heads of live cattle and 32,000 tons of frozen beef.

To manage skyrocketing prices around Idul Fitri, the government allowed the import of 25,000 heads of cattle from Australia.

The government is also accelerating the importation of 46,000 heads of live cattle earlier scheduled for October through December, with the initial delivery scheduled for September.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Cattle and Buffalo Breeders Association chairman Teguh Boediyana said that the government'€™s moves to deflate beef prices were carried out while ignoring farmers, who had suffered from the fluctuating prices.

Teguh cited how breeders often had to buy cattle at certain rate only to have the cows being sold at a much lower price.

'€œIf the government is willing to keep up with its commitment to attain self-sufficiency, what it should do is impose import tariffs to both regulate trade and to maintain competitive prices for farmers,'€ Teguh said in a conference.

The government had set a target to be self sufficient in beef by 2014. The government, however, has continued to raise the beef import quota outside its annual quota due to scarcity and soaring prices, with production estimated to decline.

Teguh said that the government would fail to achieve the target if it continued to increase imports.