Brazilian Beef Brings Concern to Indonesia
INDONESIA - A plan to begin importing Brazilian beef into Indonesia has sparked concern amongst cattle farmers due to fears of over foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) - which has killed millions of cattle worldwide.
8 May 2008
1 minute read
According to the Jakarta Post, the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) divides beef-producing countries into three categories: FMD-free countries, countries with FMD-free zones, and FMD-free compartments in a country.
They say that Indonesia ranks in the first category, along with 58 other countries, while Brazil is in the second.
Indonesia is forced to import because it cannot satisfy national demands for meat on its own. It had previously only imported from Australia and New Zealand, which drove up prices for local consumers.
The minister for agriculture, Anton Apriyantono, has moved to import meat from category two countries like Brazil and Uruguay, whose meat is much cheaper than Australian and New Zealand exports.
According to the United Nations Commodity Trade Statistics Database, Brazilian meat sold in Southeast Asia costs less than half that of Australian meat, excluding freight.
Further Reading
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- You can visit our FMD information page by clicking here. |
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