The Government Is Looking For Solutions So That Beef Prices Do Not Continue To Rise

Presidential Chief of Staff Moeldoko (Photo: Antara)

JAKARTA - The Presidential Palace, through the Presidential Chief of Staff, Moeldoko, is trying to find a solution to stabilize beef prices by bringing together the Indonesian Meat Traders Association (APDI) and the Association of Indonesian Beef Cattle Farmers (Gapuspindo) to respond to the increase in meat prices in the market.

"Through this meeting, I hope there is a solution so that beef prices do not continue to rise and become a new problem and a burden on society in the midst of handling COVID-19 and various disasters," said Moeldoko at the Bina Graha Building, Presidential Palace Complex, Jakarta, as reported by Antara. , Friday, 22 January.

The meeting, which was also attended by representatives of the Ministry of Trade, Ministry of Agriculture, Bulog, and PT Berdikari, is an attempt by the Government to find a solution related to the issue of beef price increases, and readiness for the upcoming Eid al-Fitr.

Moeldoko explained that the parties present at the meeting rearranged the calculation of the existing meat stock.

Through this step, said Moeldoko, each party is expected to map the preparations for setting the price of meat and decide on policies for meat imports and beef imports from several countries.

As for the issue of increasing meat prices which has been busy lately, Moeldoko has received information that this has been controlled by Gapuspindo and APDI facilitated by the Ministry of Trade.

"That way, don't let consumers feel that prices are still high. Gapuspindo as the upstream party has lowered prices, don't let APDI keep raising prices to consumers, "said Moeldoko.

The Ministry of Trade's Director General of Domestic Trade, Syailendra, explained that since the strike of meat traders in several areas, his party immediately intervened by facilitating a meeting between Gapuspindo and APDI.

Syailendra said that from the meeting the two parties agreed to take a middle course of fixing the price from upstream at around Rp. 94,000 per kilogram, so that retail traders could sell for less than Rp120,000 per kilogram.

"This is a short term step. We have also determined medium and long-term steps, especially through import policies outside Australia which continue to raise cattle prices, "said Syailendra.

The Chairperson of APDI Asnawi also positively welcomed the middle path that had been agreed upon with Gapuspindo.

In fact, Asnawi said, since the agreement, APDI has asked all meat traders to resume their activities and stop strikes.

"Now, traders are able to sell meat at the lowest price of IDR 105,000 per kilogram from the previous price of IDR 120,000 per kilogram," Asnawi explained.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the Gapuspindo Board, Didiek Purwanto, explained that his party had indeed raised the price of meat in line with the increase in the price of imported cattle from Australia.

Didiek explained, since the price of imported Australian cattle touched the lowest level of 2.5 US dollars per live kilogram, there was an increase in the price of up to 3.8 US dollars per kilogram or the equivalent of Rp55,460 per kilogram at the end of December 2020.

"So, some of our members can no longer import from Australia and cause a price hike after 2019-2020 there was no price hike. We also hope that in the future there will be alternative countries that can import cattle in the midst of import conditions from Australia, "said Didiek.

On the other hand, representatives of Bulog and Berdikari stated their readiness to meet the beef demand ahead of the upcoming Eid Al-Fitr. He noted, the import licensing process from countries outside Australia could be accelerated.