"We have checked in the field. A joint team from the ministries of agriculture and trade conducted field checks. The price and stock at the farmers level (ranches) are stable," the minister said here on Wednesday.
He said the rising beef prices over the past several days could have been caused by restrictions in supply due to ranch workers taking time off during and after the Lebaran festivities.
Their absence led to the postponement of stock deliveries. However, the ranch workers have now returned to work, so the delivery cycle will return to normal and the supply and price of beef will therefore also return to stable levels.
"During Lebaran, they returned to their hometowns, so stock deliveries were postponed. Now that they have returned to work, the meat business is expected to become stable again by next week," Sulaiman remarked.
He stressed that stocks were now adequate, with a sufficient number of cows to supply the country.
Sulaiman explained that based on his field checks, his ministry had found an inventory of 221 thousand heads of cattle.
"The latest estimate now places the number of cattle stocks at 160 thousand heads, which is adequate for four months based on a monthly consumption of 40 thousand heads," Sulaiman said.
Although he acknowledged the upward trend in the price of beef, the minister hoped that the police would take firm action against those found guilty of artificially raising prices as there were indications of violations in the distribution of the commodity.
Over the past few days, the price of beef has shot up to Rp130 thousand-Rp140 thousand per kg, far above the normal average price of Rp90 thousand per kg.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
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