Japan to Supply Frozen Beef to Indonesia
11 January 2014 16:00 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Director General of Husbandry and Animal Health of the Ministry of Agriculture, Syukur Iwantoro, said that the Japanese government has expressed interest in exporting frozen beef to Indonesia. During the meeting with the Minister Embassy of Japan to Indonesia Ushio Shigeru on Thursday, January 9, 2014, the Japanese government also said that its livestock was free from mouth-and-nail diseases.
"Therefore, they hope that the can have opportunities to export frozen meat to Indonesia," Syukur said in Jakarta on Friday.
In the meantime, the Indonesian government welcomed the plan provided that the meat complied to the prevailing provisions, among others that the livestock must come from slaughterhouses that have been certified halal by the Indonesian Ulema Council's Food and Drug Analysis Agency (LPPOM MUI) and have been audited from the technical aspects by the Directorate General of Husbandry and Animal Health of the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture.
"Frozen meat from Japan can reduce our dependencies on the Australian livestock," he said.
Therefore, Syukur hoped that the Japanese investors would make investment in the husbandry sector, especially beef cattle in Indonesia.
"The Japanese investors would immediately come to Indonesia to embark on investment in Aceh, Central Java and West Nusa Tenggara," he said.
Syukur also said that the Indonesian government hoped that the Japanese government could re-open opportunities for Indonesia to export processed chicken to Japan. Indonesia has actually been allowed to export frozen chicken meat to Japan but since the outbreak of bird flu, the ban has been put in place again.
For the record, the Agriculture Ministry recorded that the need for imported livestock in 2014 reaches 720 livestock. The figure rose by more than 50 percent compared to that in 2013, when Indonesia imported 477,747 livestocks.
APRILIANI GITA | DAVID PRIYASIDHARTA