Barantan Never Holds Slaughter Cows

Jakarta, Nov 27 (Antara) - The Quarantine Agency (Barantan) of the Ministry of Agriculture has never held slaughter cows imported to Indonesia, an official said. In his written statement on Tuesday, Barantan Spokesman Eddy Purnomo said that his side had checked at the quarantine offices across the country and found no cow being held that caused prices of beef in the domestic market to increase. "All imported cows have been checked at the quarantine and have met the requirements (free from disease and have legal documents) for their release," he said. He was responding to reports that imported cows were held at the quarantines so that meat supply to the market were being hampered. The entry gates of imported cows now are the ports of Tanjung Priok in North Jakarta, Lampung in Sumatra and Cilacap in Central Java. Barantan data showed that as of November 26, 2013, the quarantines had released 259,693 calves and 70,967 slaughter cows. Eddy said that based on information from importers there had been delays in the slaughter of cows because of technical matters in the slaughter houses. Regulations require abattoirs to meet animal welfare conditions and sanitation standard as set by Australia before they could slaughter cattle, he said. In reality, the capacity of slaughter houses is limited while the number of cow sent to the abattoirs is bigger. "At present, some of the ready for slaughter cows are still kept at the importers` cowshed to wait for their slaughter time," he said. The importation of calves, mother cows and slaughter cattle into Indonesia is regulated based on the Agriculture Minister`s Decree No. 97/Permentan/PD.410/9/2013 which was enacted into law on September 30, 2013. Indonesia consumes about 550 thousand tons of meat per year. However, its production at home could not yet meet domestic needs. At the end of last year, when beef stocks continued to fall, Coordinating Minister For Economic Affairs Hatta Rajasa called on importers to import meat based on their respective quotas, hoping that the quota of 80,000 tonnes in 2013 would be increased to 100,000 tonnes, which was about 18 percent of the national need. Last March, Director General of Husbandry and Animal Health at the Agriculture Ministry Syukur Iwantoro revealed that the number of cows across the country in 2011 was recorded at 15.421 million. The number rose to 16.4 million in 2012. However, latest data indicates that this year the number of cattle was only about 14.2 million cows, reflecting that the population of cattle dropped by 2.2 million.