Australia: live cattle exports yet to resume to Indonesia
Australian live cattle exporters to Indonesia are expecting a “trickle trade” over the next six months, despite demand for beef increasing across the Timor Sea.
The Australian government lifted its month-long ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia three weeks ago, but Australian Agricultural Company chief executive David Farley said the government had yet to grant any exporters a permit for Indonesian trade.
Mr Farley said it would take months before exporters returned to the pre-ban cargo of 15,000 beasts a week to Indonesia.
“The industry and ourselves are still working feverishly at it, but it’s a big, big challenge. We are being asked to implement changes and operating practices… in a country that we don’t have sovereign right or any law to do it within,” Mr Farley said. “Between now and Christmas I think numbers will be limited. We’ll be operating on a trickle trade.”
Mr Farley announced recently a net loss for the six months to June 30 of $12.6 million, compared with a loss of $12.2 million in the prior corresponding period.
