"The government, through the agriculture and trade ministries, has agreed to lift licenses of importers who have obtained import recommendation, if they act slowly (late to import the meat)," Agriculture Minister, Amran Sulaiman, said in his press statement received here on Tuesday.
According to him, the agriculture and trade ministries have agreed to several strategic measures in an effort to maintain the meat supply before and after the month of Ramadhan.
Among the strategic measures is to revoke licenses of importers who fail to import on time and are blacklisted in feeder cattle import.
In addition, the import of frozen meat will also be evaluated, namely those importing less than 20 percent, and their licenses will be revoked, excluding the beginners (importers).
"The license of the company with zero import (of meat) will be directly revoked. Through this effort, we are sure that the beef stock will continue to be available, and there would be no shortage," he explained.
Currently, the government has 40 thousand tons of beef stock. In the future, the government hopes the stock will reach 50 thousand tons.
Meanwhile, during Ramadhan, beef stock of only 30 thousand tons is needed, and so the supply is more than the demand, the minister disclosed.
"The maximum price is Rp80 thousand per kilogram, and some even sell at Rp70 thousand to Rp75 thousand per kilogram. The most important thing is that the price should not exceed Rp80 thousand per kilogram," he revealed.
Apart from lifting the import license, the Trade Ministry will also issue a regulation that requires the distributors to report the data of their meat stock in warehouses.
Reported by Ahmad Wijaya
(B003/INE)
EDITED BY INE
(T.SYS/A/KR-BSR/A014)
Editor: Aditia Maruli Radja
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