H-6 Ahead Of Eid Al-Fitr, The National Food Agency Ensures Beef Stock Is Safe And Prices Are Stable: There Are Alternatives To Frozen Beef And Frozen Buffalo Meat

Illustration. (Photo: Doc. Antara)

JAKARTA - Head of the National Food Agency (Bapanas) or National Food Agency (NFA), Arief Prasetyo Adi ensures that beef stocks are safe and prices are stable approaching Eid Al-Fitr 1443 Hijri.

Arief said that from his monitoring ahead of Lebaran, the price of fresh beef nationally was stable at around IDR 115.000 to IDR 150.000 per kilogram (Kg).

"In fact, the average price of fresh meat at the consumer level nationally is stable at IDR 134.863 per kg, as of April 26, 2022," he said in an official statement, Wednesday, April 27.

Arief added that the National Food Agency has implemented a strategy to respond to the stabilization of meat prices by providing alternative options such as frozen beef and frozen buffalo meat, which are still relatively stable and the price ranges from IDR 80.000 to IDR 95.000 per kilogram.

"So people have alternatives to buy meat, there are fresh beef, frozen beef and frozen buffalo meat," he said.

According to him, as an effort to maintain the availability and stabilization of meat prices in the face of the 2022 National Religious Holidays (HBKN), the National Food Agency together with the Ministry of SOEs and PT Berdikari Member of ID FOOD ensure meat stocks and prices by directly observing meat centers in several locations in Jakarta.

Furthermore, Arief said that this was because DKI Jakarta is the area with the highest meat consumption in Indonesia.

"We continue to monitor it to ensure that the stock of meat is available and prices are stable. This direct monitoring of meat prices can be carried out routinely with the Food SOEs so that people's needs are met," he explained.

Meanwhile, the President Director of PT Berdikari, member of ID FOOD, Harry Warganegara, added that his party was strengthening the meat distribution network by expanding the supply to supply beef.

These include the LotteMart network, Best Meat and Prima Fresh Mart, as well as individual meat reseller partners and independent meat outlet centers.

To ensure that the distribution of beef and its processed products can be evenly distributed and the prices are affordable for the community, Berdikari has received the assignment of 20,000 MT of Brazilian beef from the government in 2022.

"Expanding the beef distribution network in collaboration with sales partners in modern markets, wet markets, e-commerce and the Berdikari Meat Outlet network," he said.

He admitted, with tactical steps to expand its beef distribution network, currently Berdikari has routinely supplied up to 36 tons per month of beef, both frozen meat and meat from live cattle, to the meat centers of sales partners and the Berdikari Meat Outlet network.

Harry added that as an effort to meet the supply of beef, Berdikari also helped optimize the production of local cattle by mobilizing feeder cattle from farmers in Central Java, East Java to Sumbawa and West Nusa Tenggara, as well as bringing in feeder cattle from Australia in early April.

"So that the total number of live cattle ready for slaughter currently amounts to 1,481 heads to meet the needs of the 2022 HBKN and it is always ensured that they are available with an average turnover of 3000 heads per month," he said.