Frozen buffalo meat from India is a cheaper protein source for Indonesian consumers. Cheap frozen Indian buffalo meat undercuts Australian beef in Indonesia Australian live cattle exporters say high prices are holding back trade to China Cattle industry tipping breeder price boom A Malaysian importer of Indian buffalo meat warns Australian cattle and beef exporters their product is unreliable, expensive and replaceable.Yusof Dayan Iskander Carey was invited to give his perspective from Malaysia to a forum of Livestock Exporters who are already dealing with record high cattle prices, low supply and Indonesian permits requiring 20 per cent breeding stock, not just feeder cattle for slaughter.It was a sobering message that buffalo, carabeef is perfectly suited to Malaysian and Indonesian slow cooking in rendang dishes.Because, the chances are that if you have been to Malaysia, Thailand or Cambodia you have eaten buffalo meat.Indonesia has also commenced importing 7,000 tonnes buffalo meat or carabeef in direct competition with Australian beef.
Buffalo sells in Malaysia for $5 per kilogram for tenderloin compared to more than $22 per kilo for beef.A buffalo meat importer based in Malaysia gave a warning to the Live Exporters Forum in Canberra that Indonesia would follow other Asian countries in importing more buffalo.Yusof Dayan Iskander Carey said the Australian cattle supply was unreliable, and demand for meat was growing."Unfortunately for Australian producers, there's always a point where JBS or AACo or other exporters, they say: 'Sorry Yusof we don't have this or the other, either because of drought, or because there's too much rain, the trucks can't get out on the farm to bring stock to the abattoir,'" he said. Yosuf Dayan Iskander Carey, Malaysian meat importer warning livestock exporters they'll face stiff competition from Indian buffalo meat in Indonesia and Malaysia. "That is a problem I will never get from India." "Malaysia imports 82 per cent of its beef, and of that, 85 per cent comes from India."The remaining 15 per cent comes from Australia, New Zealand and Brazil."
Malaysia only produces 52,000 tonnes a year, and eats over 200,000 tonnes. The recent high prices have hurt demand in Malaysia, especially with the economic downturn in Asia.The Malaysian agriculture minister recently announced the country would need to slaughter 1.1 million cattle a year to meet domestic demand but Malaysia is only processing 200,000 head of cattle, of which approximately 35,000 is Australian.The shortfall is imported from Thailand, and Thailand imports cattle from Myanmar"So our local cattle is not locals, it's all smuggled across.""This is something that Indian buffalo meat importers are taking advantage of, at (giant supermarkets) Tesco, Carrefour, any restaurant — it's all Indian buffalo meat."He described the wet market, with dripping red meat, as all thawed Indian buffalo.When it first arrived in the 1980s no one knew it was buffalo, but now it has clearer labelling and consumers don't mind."This is the Malaysian perspective. I'm not here to sugar coat it for you - you may not like me for it.
But you are exporting about 600,000 head of cattle a year, and if you don't get it right, 20 years from now your exports will halve."In 2002, Malaysia imported 45,000 head but today it's 35,000 and yet demand for red meat in Malaysia has gone through the roof."India exports roughly 220 container loads of frozen buffalo meat into Malaysia, 150,000 tonnes a year.Meanwhile an Australian beef cattle producer and feedlot owner is not concerned."Indonesia consumes 700,000 tonnes of beef and at the moment a small amount of buffalo has come in, and it will meet a demand at that price," said Troy Setter the CEO of Consolidated Pastoral Company."Indonesians consume only 2 to 2.5kg beef per person compared to 7-10kg per person in other parts of Asia."So there is room for growth in meat consumption in Indonesia, from a variety of sources.Australian live cattle exports ground to a halt in September, after Indonesia announced the year's 700,000 head permit would have to made up of 20 per cent breeder cattle.
Feedlot operators in Indonesia were concerned that it would be financially unviable for them, and were reluctant to apply for permits. According to Simon Crean, the chair of Australia's Livestock Exporters Council, the risk for Indonesia's domestic herd, is that breaking the smooth flow of cattle imports will only increase beef prices and prompt the slaughter of their own breed stock.The Indonesian and Australian working group for live exports has made some breakthroughs.After a high level Government meeting this week, a working group was formed, including Troy Setter, chief executive of Consolidated Pastoral Company, which has two feedlots in Indonesia, JJAA joint ventures in Sumatra."Feedlots are designed for finishing cattle, and Australia is cost effective for breeding but Indonesia is very efficient at fattening," he said."It's nearly double the price to produce cattle by breeding in feedlots, whereas if they were run on grass and their calves are finished in feedlots is about half the price.""
We certainly worked with members of the working party and the Government, to produce more beef for the 250 million people, to grow their domestic beef production.He suggested they have begun the conversation about securing land to grow cattle potentially by small holder farmers, surrounding arable cropping country.""Our company has trialled running cattle under palm oil trees in the past, but it's not been economically viable but with research and development we'll look at ways of doing it cost effectively."Wisma Putra: ‘Delusions, lies’ behind North Korea’s allegations KUALA LUMPUR, Feb 20 — In a strongly-worded statement, the Foreign Affairs Ministry said today that North Korea’s allegations against Malaysia’s investigation into the sudden death of its citizen was “culled from delusions, lies and half-truths”. The Ministry insisted that the police investigation was conducted “impartially without fear or favour”, and was in compliance with Malaysian laws and regulations.
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