Regular reader will know that I’m no fan of protectionist measures, especially in agriculture. But today’s announcement of Indonesia buying one million hectares of Australian land to breed cattle makes no sense at all. From the AFR:
The Indonesian government has approved a plan to buy a million hectares of Australian farmland to breed its own cattle, following an agreement that was made between the two countries in July.
…Although the president stopped short of lifting Indonesia’s annual import limit of 80,000 tonnes, put in place after the Gillard government suspended the live cattle trade in 2011, he acknowledged the local industry needed investment and assistance. Australia’s yearly $300 million cattle exports to Indonesia has struggled since the live trade ban.
Before the ban, Australia exported 500,000 to 600,000 head of cattle each year and that is now restricted to 80,000 tonnes.
Err, so having been locked out of the market by Gillard’s knee jerk politics, we’re now going to let the customer come here and compete with our own producers who can’t get market access? And did we sign up to this absurdity when Kevin Rudd was over a barrel seeking a desperate solution to border protection?
Perhaps this is just a timing issue and the deal to lift the ban will be forthcoming. I have no objection to the land purchase but open the market, or no land!
