Buffalo meat. Indonesia not suspended Indian buffalo meat imports, confirms Indian Embassy in Jakarta

Indonesia has not suspended import of frozen boneless frozen buffalo meat from India, the Indian Embassy in Jakarta said on Friday.

“Some competitors have been spreading all sorts of rumours on the suspension of frozen buffalo meat by Indonesia with the ulterior motive of defaming safe, risk-free Indian buffalo meat with an aim to impact its exports to other countries.

“In view of the fact that there is no such suspension of imports of frozen boneless buffalo meat from India, this is false propaganda of some of India’s competitors as they are threatened by the ever increasing success of the Indian buffalo meat,” the embassy said in a press release.

ABC report

Australia Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) said in a report on Wednesday, quoting Reuters , that the Indonesia logistics agency Bulog Chief Executive Budi Waseso had told his Parliament that buffalo meat exports from India had been suspended due to concerns over the Covid-19 pandemic.

The agency quoted Waseso as reportedly saying: “due to the lockdown … plus the development of the COVID-19 virus in India … we temporarily stopped the (buffalo meat) import plan."

ABC further reported that the trade had come to a total halt. However, it quoted Indonesian livestock consultant Robu Agustiar as saying that Indonesia had not decided to ban Indian buffalo meat imports but could postpone shipments.

Agustiar also reportedly said the suspension of buffalo meat imports from India could last for three months.

“There is no suspension of our buffalo meat imports,” said Tarun Bajaj, Director of Agricultural and Processed Food Products Exports Development Authority (APEDA), which supervises and promotes agricultural exports.

“There is no issue with Indonesia (on buffalo meat exports). It is our competitors who are spreading rumours,” he said.

“On the contrary, Indonesia is in the process of ordering further buffalo meat imports from India,” said Bajaj, who is in charge of exports of processed foods and animal products.

ABC reported that Indonesia had given permission to import 80,000 tonnes of buffalo meat from India and so far, 13,000 tonnes had reached the Far-East country. But Fauzan Alvi, one of India’s largest meat exporters and spokesperson for All Indi Meat and Livestock Exporters Assoication said Indonesia has already sourced 25,700 tonnes of buffalo meat from India since February this year and there were absolutely no issues in supplies.

“Indonesia had committed to raise the quota to two lakh tonnes, but it is yet to implement it,” he said.

“Bulog, which procures meat from India, has just placed an enquiry for supply of 53,000 tonnes of meat to be shipped in phases up to December. Orders based on the enquiry should be finalised by Indian exporters in two weeks.There is no suspension of Indian exports to Indonesia and these are just baseless rumours,” said Alavi.

Headway in Indonesian market

Trade sources said that Indian competitors, particularly in the Asia-Pacific region, were worried that Indian buffalo meat enjoys a 30 per cent market share in Indonesia currently.

According to beef2live.com Website, India ranked fifth in terms of beef exports, all buffalo meat only, shipping 1.28 million tonnes and enjoying a 12 per cent share in the global market.

APEDA data shows that India’s buffalo meat exports recorded a high of 1.47 million tonnes during 2014-15 before dropping to 1.15 million tonnes during 2019-20. Provisional figures for 2020-21 fiscal peg buffalo meat exports at 1.08 million tonnes, though the value was higher at ₹23,460 crore compared with previous fiscal’s ₹22,661 crore.

Exports rebound

As regards buffalo meat exports to Indonesia, shipments until 2015-16 were below 900 tonnes before gathering momentum and peaking at 94,500 tonnes during 2018-19. Though the shipments dropped to 73,136 tonnes in 2019-20, they had rebounded last year. During April-February last fiscal, India had exported 82,347 tonnes.

India has become a source of a cheaper alternative to expensive beef from competitors such as Brazil and Australia. It is also seen as a cheaper source of protein in the Far-East nation.

Trade sources said that while Indian buffalo meat was available at less than $3,500 ( ₹25,500) a tonne, beef from origins such as Australia ruled at above $4,500 (₹32,850).

India’s exports of buffalo meat to Indonesia in 2019-20 were worth $230 million with exports valued around the same level last fiscal. “We can easily treble exports. We have all the resources,” said Alavi.

“We have not cut into anyone’s market share in Indonesia. We only created an additional market with our buffalo meat,” said a trade source without wishing to be identified.

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