T

he largest beef supplier and feedlot in Tangerang, PT Tanjung Unggul Mandiri, is struggling to meet the current high demand for beef.

Director Sanko Hasan told tempo.co over the weekend that the company was running out of supplies.

“We have 8,300 cows on the farm, only 25 percent of them are fit for slaughter. Ideally, there should be 35,000 cows on our 50-hectare farm.”

He said that the government’s policy on limiting imported beef in a bid to develop local industry would not be effective because currently beef suppliers found it difficult to get cows.

“We used to be able to get 40 new cows from local farms to fatten up, but now we rarely get 20 a day,” he said.

“We are on the verge of losing our business. I have had to layoff 200 workers in the past year, but I hope we don’t have to do that again,” Sanko said.