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Importers Take Their Beef With Government to Court
Francezka Nangoy | April 02, 2011

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Mike.Jkt
9:46am Apr 3, 2011

This isn't the first time imported beef has been impounded by various government agencies under the ruse of expired import permits or other excuses. If the imported beef is not what the import permits say it i then destroy it and if is then let it in. Indoneisa is not yet ready to provide the market with Indonesian beef. This is just another case of importers having to pay "cigarette money" to clear their products.

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As the government continues efforts to make the nation self-sufficient in beef, two local importers said on Friday that they had sued the state over containers of beef stopped at Tanjung Priok after inspectors declared the shipping licenses expired.

The suit, which was filed against the Agriculture Ministry’s quarantine agency the day before, said the government’s unclear licensing policies had stranded the importers’ goods at the port since January, leading to billions of rupiah in losses.

Anzindo Gratia International and Berkat Mandiri Prima, members of the Indonesian Meat Importers Association (Aspidi), said 25 containers of their beef had arrived in mid-January, at which point they were impounded. The companies said they were paying soaring storage and refrigeration costs for the meat, not to mention the fact that the product could not be sold.

The import licenses had in fact expired on Dec. 31, but Aspidi director Thomas Sembiring explained that licenses for temporary extensions were usually granted because the original permits had such short durations.

“It is the obligation of the quarantine agency to release lawful products, and they have failed to do so,” Abdul Hakim G. Nusantara, head of the importers’ legal team, told the Jakarta Globe on Friday.

Thomas estimated the value of each container at Rp 500 million ($57,000), and storage costs for each at more than Rp 1 million per day.

According to the Agriculture Ministry’s Web site, meat shipments did not qualify for substitute permits. Calls to the ministry for comment went unanswered.

A quarantine agency notice issued last week said the containers must be re-exported within seven days or be destroyed, but as of Friday the meat was still on the dock.

“If we want to re-export the containers, seven days is not enough for us to secure the administrative authorizations from Indonesia or the destination countries,” Thomas said.

This incident has attracted international attention, Thomas added, and if prolonged, will only serve to ruin the business relationship between Indonesian meat importers and the exporter countries.

In February 2010, the ministry initiated a program to make Indonesia self-sufficient in beef by 2014. As part of the effort, the government dramatically reduced this year’s quota for beef imports to 50,000 tons, nearly 60 percent less than the 120,000 tons shipped in last year.