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What's the beef? Govt links butchers with supplier, mulls diversifying import sources
Following last week's beef strike, the government has intervened to help connect butchers to a major food distributor for supplies of frozen beef to bring down local prices of imported beef in Indonesia.
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Packs of vacuum-sealed Australian beef are on display at a butcher's shop in the Melbourne suburb of Yarraville, on May 12, 2020. (AFP/William West)
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n response to a recent beef strike, the Trade Ministry has partnered with a private distributor to provide more affordable frozen beef while also mulling over a plan to diversify the commodity’s import sources to stabilize prices.
Butchers and meat traders, especially those in Greater Jakarta, held a strike on Jan. 20-21 demanding government intervention to stabilize price increases at markets for fresh beef and at feedlots and slaughterhouses for cattle.
To allay their concerns, the ministry has facilitated cooperation between butchers and private beef distributor PT Suri Nusantara Jaya (SNJ), which has committed to providing 17,000 tons of frozen beef and frozen water buffalo meat.
“We have brought together the butchers [with SNJ] and they have committed to start selling again from [Friday] with relatively more affordable beef for the public,” Trade Ministry secretary-general Suhanto told reporters on Jan. 21 during a visit to the distributor’s warehouse in Bekasi, West Java.
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The food supplier and distributorwas deemed to have enough frozen beef to meet consumer demand in Jakarta for the next three months, added Suhanto. He conceded that the price increase was the result of a hike in Australian cattle prices that reached $3.78 per kg in January, or a 35 percent hike from prices in June 2020.
Indonesian consumers saw the price of fresh beef increase in recent days, with data from the Indonesian Meat Traders Association (APDI) showing that the price of live Australian cattle at feedlots had increased in January to US$3.90 per kilogram from $3.60 in July 2020, Kontan reported.
