THE NT Government has put on hold a delegation to Indonesia in response to cuts in quotas for the importation of live cattle from Australia.
The cuts came in mid December with the Indonesian Government reducing the amount of live cattle from Australia for 2012 to 283,000 head, a follow on from the reduction to 520,000 last year. The quota was more than 700,000 in 2009, NT News reports.
On December 16, Territory Chief Minister Paul Henderson said in a statement that he was prepared to send a delegation to Indonesia of Northern Territory government and industry as soon as possible to meet with relevant officials to see how they could work with Indonesia to ensure the mutually beneficial trade relationship continues.
NT Cattlemen's Association executive director Luke Bowen said they had spoken with the Territory Government and had agreed there would be no delegation yet.
He re-iterated the change to procedure, with the Indonesian Trade Ministry taking over from the Agricultural Ministry for setting quotas.
"There was mutual agreement that we would should sit tight for a minute and let things play out internally for a while," he said.
"And they have indicated they will be seriously looking at supply and demand with a view to make sure they don't have a spike in the price of beef in their marketplace.
"As a result they are going to be reviewing this issue on an ongoing basis, is roughly what they have said.
Primary Industry Minister Kon Vatskalis said in a statement the Government would "continue to discuss cattle exports with Indonesia and will advise in the near future when a visit is likely to take place".
"It is all part of our ongoing and long term relationship with Indonesia as trading partners," he said.
Mr Bowen said they were still confident there would increases to the quota for the year.
Earlier this month Indonesia issued about 60,000 import permits for live cattle from Australia for the first quarter of this year.
Read more at NT News
