Govt to Import Slaugter Cows: Minister

Jakarta (Antara) - Trade Minister Gita Wirjawan said the government would import slaughter cattle, apart from the 3,000 ton import quota by state-owned logistics board Bulog, to stabilize prices in the market. "We have decided to import cattle in the form of slaughter cows. We hope this step will drive down the price to a normal level to Rp75,000 per kg," Minister Gita Wirjawan said after a coordinating meeting at the chief economic minister's office here on Wednesday. He said that the coordinating minister for economic affairs also responded positively to the step as now the beef price had reached over a certain level. "We will not import if the price is still below the certain level," the minister said. The 3000 tons have been allocated to Bulog to import the beef from Australia. Initially, about 800 tons will be imported through the air and 2,200 through the sea. "Unluckily however that only 12 tons of the 200 to 500 tons of the target that would be imported through the air have arrived yesterday," said Gita. At present the price of beef in the domestic market has reached between Rp90,000 per kg and Rp100,000 per kg. The State Logistics Agency (Bulog) has delayed to import beef this year due to the difficulty of getting permit, according to State-Owned Enterprises Minister Dahlan Iskan. Iskan said here on Saturday that his office actually hoped the imported beef could have arrived before the Ramadhan holy month on July 10. He added Bulog had actually proposed permit on April or three months before Ramadhan. "But the permit did not come out quickly. The permit was just issued near Ramadhan," he said. (*)