Report highlights social benefits of Australia-Indonesia cattle trade
A new study commissioned by Australia’s Livestock Export Programme has highlighted significant social benefits from the country’s shipments of live cattle to Indonesia.
According to the report, exports of live cattle from Australia is responsible for keeping 8,500 people in jobs in Indonesia. People are employed in abattoirs, feedstock operations and smallholdings to look after the cattle.
It said the relationship between the two trading partners had brought volumes of beef from Australian-bred cattle coming onto the market in Indonesia to more than 80,000 tonnes per year. The report said this was enough to provide 28 million people with a reliable source of protein.
This trading relationships also benefit farmers in Australia, the study said, especially those in the Northern Territories. It said farms in that part of Australia are often too far from major domestic markets and that shipping livestock to Indonesia instead provided “an essential outlet”.
