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elf-sufficiency in beef still seems to be a far-reaching dream for Indonesia, where vast pastures to grow cattle are hard to find.

However, for the first time, the country managed to export Wagyu beef to its Southeast Asian neighbor Myanmar on Wednesday.

Jakarta-listed food producer PT Japfa Comfeed Indonesia delivered 599 kilograms of the premium quality beef, which it branded “Tokusen Wagyu” and sold for around US$20,000.

The meat adds to Indonesian exports to Myanmar, dominated by products like palm oil, paper, mineral fuels and pharmaceutical products, with a total value of $615.68 million in 2016, according to data from Geneva-based Trademap.

Export sales manager of PT Santosa Agrindo (Santori), Japfa’s subsidiary, Yohendrik said the beef would cater to demand from Myanmar’s growing tourism.

The majority of the population in Myanmar, a country with more than 50 million people, are Buddhist, who can be vegetarian by choice.

“Despite being a Buddhist-majority country, the number of foreign tourists visiting Myanmar is on the rise, and therefore, there is a surge in demand for premium beef from mushrooming hotels, restaurants and cafés,” Yohendrik explained at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.

The firm also claims to offer more affordable beef than Japan, where Wagyu beef is originally from, and which is geographically closer to Myanmar as well as Australia.

Boosted by its maiden overseas delivery, Japfa is optimistic about its export prospects. Santori is approaching new buyers in Myanmar to sell another 8 tons of Wagyu beef by March, while also lobbying distributors in Malaysia, Vietnam, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates to meet its target to ship the meat by year-end.

Japfa said it was seeing a positive response from Malaysia, while trying to develop distribution channels in Vietnam and the Middle East.

The company started to breed cattle to produce Wagyu beef in 2013 in Lampung. It manages 10,000 cattle, which usually weigh around 600 kg each, to make the specific type of beef. It also raises Brahman cattle in Probolinggo, East Java.

While Japfa is making progress with its cattle breeding business, Indonesia is still struggling to boost its domestic cattle population to 42 million by 2025 in order to meet surging demand nationwide.

Agriculture Ministry livestock and animal health director general I Ketut Diarmita welcomed Japfa’s move to sell the Wagyu beef to Myanmar. He said it proved Indonesia’s ability to produce beef of internationally recognized quality.

The government was trying to pave the way for local food producers to export their products, Ketut added.

It has been approaching governments of Malaysia, Vietnam and some Middle Eastern countries to open their market to Indonesian meat products, including Wagyu beef.

Ketut claimed that so far, the Malaysian government had responded positively as it agreed to buy Indonesian products, although deals would be made on a business-to-business policy.

Some local producers already shipped milk to Myanmar and chicken to Papua New Guinea recently.

In terms of production, the ministry claimed that the local cattle population increased by 14.2 percent to 16 million last year from 2016.

This year, it targets to breed 3 million calves from a mandatory breeding program.