When People Switch To Buffaloes Because Beef Prices Are Expensive, But It Turns Out To Be The Same

Meat sellers in the market/ Photo: IST

JAKARTA - The price of buffalo meat sold at the Kramat Jati Traditional Market, East Jakarta has begun to soar after beef prices. As a result of the high price of buffalo meat, traders and buyers also complained.

From observations at the location, the price of buffalo meat skyrocketed to Rp 130 thousand per kilogram. Whereas previously, Perum Bulog had set a price of Rp 85 - Rp 90 thousand per kilogram.

According to one of the meat traders, Aan said, sales are decreasing every year because prices continue to increase.

"What makes it strange is imports, but every year the meat doesn't go up is not exciting. It seems that meat importers if they don't raise it won't be fun. If you think about the use of imports for nekan prices, this is even an insane import of prices," Aan regretted to reporters, Friday, April 14..

The market price for beef at Kramat Jati Market is IDR 140 thousand per kilogram, while buffalo meat is IDR 130 thousand per kilogram.

"If we also complain about the price of buffalo meat, Alhamdulillah, there is a stock of goods every year but it always goes up even though the government has imported it. There should be imports that can reduce lower prices," he said.

Meanwhile, according to Tini, one of the buyers of buffalo meat, was forced to reduce the number of purchases because the price of buffalo per kilogram reached Rp130 thousand.

"Usually IDR 75 thousand sekilo, now it has increased to IDR 130 thousand. I usually buy 5 kilos, now I buy 2 kilos. I want to buy local but expensive cattle, so I switch to buffalo meat, but it's also expensive, so the purchase is reduced," he said.

The Public Company of the Logistics Affairs Agency (Perum Bulog) received 18 thousand tons of imported frozen buffalo with the brand ALM at the New Priok Container Terminal One (NPCT 1), Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta.

President Director of Perum Bulog Budi Waseso said that this imported frozen buffalo meat is to meet national meat stock reserves to meet domestic needs, especially ahead of Eid al-Fitr or Eid Al-Fitr 2023.

Buwas, Budi Waseso's nickname, said that the arrival of 18 thousand tons of meat was part of the government's assignment to Bulog to import 100 thousand tons of frozen buffalo until December 2023.

Furthermore, Buwas said the arrival of imported frozen buffalo meat was an alternative choice for consumers in fulfilling the availability of meat and maintaining the stabilization of meat prices at the consumer level.

"The arrival of imported meat stocks by Bulog is very much needed to answer the problem of meat availability which is experiencing an upward trend in demand during Ramadan and ahead of Eid al-Fitr," he said at the location, Wednesday, April 12.