Dozen of livestock carriers stuck off Northern Australia after new cattle import rules introduced by the Indonesian government. During the whole September, the cattle import in Indonesia was halted after setting a certain percentage of cattle to be imported for breeding purposes. Moreover, only four companies in the country received permission to import cattle, after approving new rules related to cattle breeding protocols, which put the trade under monopolizing conditions and seriously affect the free market. Most of the importers are not willing to do the business of livestock breeding and face the risk of not getting permission to import.

The Australian cattle export to Indonesia was restarted after a month of uncertainty. The livestock carrier from the Port of Townsville arrived at the end of September and another one was dispatched on beginning of October, restarting the trade between both countries. Another eight vessels are schedule to load in port of Northern Australia during the week and to deliver to Indonesia, but the uncertainty continues, due to the new regulation introduced by the Indonesia Government. There are still several live cattle ships anchored off various northern ports of Australia waiting for permits, including four vessels in outer Darwin harbor.

“The Minister is aware that to date only four companies have been issued import permits for live cattle and as a result several consignments are scheduled to depart Australia for Indonesia over the next couple of days”, said the Australian Federal Labor agriculture spokesman, Joel Fitzgibbon.

Indonesia is importing around 50,000 head of cattle per month from Australia.