WASHINGTON -- When authorities discovered a case of mad cow disease in
California last year, Indonesia angered U.S. cattle producers by
becoming the first nation to ban beef from the United States.
The fallout was immediate, and U.S. beef sales to Indonesia plummeted
to nearly nothing.
Much to the satisfaction of cattle producers in states such as
California and Texas, the U.S. government is fighting back: In the
latest case to go before the World Trade Organization, the Obama
administration is pressing Indonesia to open its markets and its
estimated 240 million consumers to more American exports or face
consequences.
"There&# 39;s no scientific basis for turning away U.S. beef," said John
Harris, owner of Harris Ranch Beef Co., a family-run operation in
California&# 39;s Fresno County since the 1930s.
Kevin Kester, a fifth-generation rancher from Parkfield, Calif.,
called Indonesia' s move a "knee-jerk political action."
And with U.S. beef exports accounting for nearly 13 percent of the
industry' s market last year, cattle producers say they rely on selling
meat to foreigners to make a living.
Industry officials say foreign markets have become particularly
important for meat cuts that won't sell here. The Japanese, for
example, have shown an affinity for cow tongue, helping drive up the
value of U.S. beef sold to Japan by 19 percent in 2012.
On Monday, U.S. Trade Representative Ron Kirk, the former Dallas
mayor, said the U.S. has reached agreement with Japan to remove some
restrictions on selling beef, a move that he said will result in
hundreds of millions of dollars in additional sales in coming years.
"We' re not subsidized by the federal government at all -- so we live
and die by the marketplace, " said Kent Bacus of the National
Cattlemen' s Beef Association, a trade group for 230,000 breeders,
producers and feeders.
The stakes are high for the U.S. economy because the beef industry
supports 1.4 million jobs, according to industry statistics. And in
2011, the 742,000 beef herds roaming the nation's pastures resulted in
$44 billion in economic activity in the U.S., the association said.
The Indonesian Embassy in Washington, D.C., would not discuss the case
but said in a statement that Indonesia "takes note" of the U.S. action
and will respond in a timely manner.
"The government of Indonesia' s aim is not to restrict imports, but to
ensure that all imported goods are safe for consumption by consumers
and safe for the environment, " it said.
Although Indonesia has Southeast Asia's largest economy, U.S. trade
figures show that it bought just 0.6 percent of U.S. beef exports in
2011 -- worth about $17 million.
And American imports account for about 20 percent of beef consumed by
Indonesians.
Along with rejecting beef, Indonesia has upset other segments of the
U.S. agriculture industry with new regulations that make it harder to
sell a wide array of products, including fresh fruits and vegetables,
juices, flowers and dried fruits.
It's causing unease in Washington state. Indonesia ranks among the top
five importers of the state's prized apples and offers a $57 million
market for cherries, pears and other fruit from the Pacific Northwest.
During a trip to Indonesia three years ago, Mark Powers, vice
president of the Northwest Horticultural Council in Yakima, Wash.,
recalled seeing street vendors in Jakarta selling red delicious apples
from Washington state. Now, he said, exports to Indonesia are down 67
percent since November, representing a loss of at least $2 million for
the state's growers.
The push to gain more access to Indonesia comes amid hard times for
the U.S. cattle industry, the world's largest supplier of beef.
Even Texas, by far the largest beef-exporting state, is showing signs
of trouble.
Last month, Minnesota-based Cargill said it would indefinitely idle
its beef-processing plant in Plainview, leaving 2,000 people out of
work, mainly because of a declining cattle supply caused by years of
drought. In making the announcement, John Keating, president of the
Cargill Beef division, based in Wichita, Kan., said the U.S. herd is
the smallest since 1952.
It's a familiar story for Kester, 57, who owns a ranch in Monterey
County, with more than 20,000 acres between the San Joaquin Valley and
California&# 39;s Central Coast. He has spent all his life in the cattle industry and has watched it
shrink, with the average age of a rancher now approaching 60.
"It' s harder and harder for ranchers and farmers to be in business
because of high regulatory costs and high land prices across the
nation, especially places like here in California," said Kester,
former president of the California Cattlemen' s Association in
Sacramento. "As time marches on, we just have less and less people in
the business and less production."
Overall, beef exports hit a high of $5.4 billion in 2011 and were
expected to set another record in 2012, though year-end figures are
not available.
While the value of beef exports rose by 2 percent during the first 11
months of last year, the amount of beef sent to other countries
declined by 11 percent, according to the U.S. Meat Export Federation.
And the amount of beef sent to Indonesia dropped by 91 percent from January through November 2012, compared with the same period in 2011.
The National Cattlemen' s Beef Association said only two countries --
Indonesia and Thailand -- moved to ban U.S. beef after a California
dairy cow was found to be infected with bovine spongiform
encephalopathy, or BSE.
Industry officials say the ban in Indonesia has been replaced with
tight quotas and requirements that force U.S. exporters to apply for
licenses, making it nearly impossible for cattle producers to sell
their products.
U.S. cattle producers now face so much risk and uncertainty in trying
to sell meat to Indonesia that they have all but given up, the
association&# 39;s Bacus said.
"There&# 39;s really no incentive," he said.
While cattle producers are most worried about the import quotas, they
face other complications in selling meat to the world's largest Muslim
country.
Indonesia requires imported beef to be slaughtered according to
Islamic requirements. And for U.S. exporters, that means obtaining a
"certificate of Islamic slaughter." Industry officials say that's
simply the price of doing business in a niche market.
But with the new quotas in place, U.S. officials say, Indonesia has
violated global trade rules by protecting its domestic agriculture
industry from competition. If the two sides can't resolve the dispute
on their own by March, the U.S. can ask the World Trade Organization
in Geneva to create a dispute settlement panel.
When he announced the action Jan. 10, Kirk complained that Indonesia
has created a "complex and discretionary import licensing regime" that
hasn't been addressed despite repeated requests.
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Washington - Tahun lalu, Indonesia menghentikan impor
daging dari AS setelah merebak kasus sapi gila di California. Kondisi
ini membuat penjualan daging di AS ke Indonesia langsung terjun bebas.
Untuk
memperjuangkan kepentingan para peternak sapi di AS seperti di
California dan Texas, pemerintah AS melawan tindakan pemerintah
Indonesia ini. Cara terakhir yang dilakukan sebelum menggugat ke badan
perdagangan dunia (WTO), pemerintahan Obama tahun lalu pernah menekan
pemerintah Indonesia untuk mencoba membuka pasar daging impornya.
Apalagi AS melihat, 240 juta penduduk Indonesia merupakan pasar yang
menggiurkan untuk ekspor daging.
"Tidak ada dasar ilmiah untuk
menghindari daging AS," ujar John Haris, seorang pemilik peternakan
bernama Harrus Ranch Beef Co. di California seperti dikutip dari
star-telegram, Senin (4/2/2013).
Para peternak di AS memang kesal
dengan kebijakan pemerintah Indonesia ini, dan mereka menyebutkan
tindakan Indonesia sebagai 'knee-jerk political action.' Karena para
peternak di AS ini memang cukup bergantung kepada pasar ekspor.
Industri
daging di AS sangat penting untuk perekonomian negara tersebut, karena
industri ini berhasil menciptakan 1,4 juta lapangan pekerjaan. Di 2011,
industri peternakan menyumbang sekitar US$ 44 miliar atau sekitar Rp 400
triliun dalam perekonomian AS.
Kedutaan Besar Indonesia di AS
tidak mau berdiskusi terkait hal ini, namun berjanji akan merespons
protes AS. "Pemerintah Indonesia tidak bertujuan melarang masuknya
barang impor, namun untuk meyakinkan bahwa semua barang yang diimpor
aman untuk dikonsumsi dan aman bagi lingkungan," demikian bunyi
pernyataan pihak Indonesia.
Meskipun Indonesia dilihat sebagai
negara dengan perekonomian terbesar, namun jumlah ekspor daging AS ke
Idnonesia cuma 0,6% atau senilai US$ 17 juta.
Pemerintah AS
dikatakan juga kesal dengan sikap pemerintah Indonesia yang memperketat
aturan impor produk agrikultur seperti buah sayur, jus, dan bunga.
Selama ini, Indonesia masuk 5 besar negara tujuan ekspor apel asal AS,
dan juga buah ceri dan pir. Sejak adanya pengetatan syarat impor ini,
nilai ekspor apel Washington turun 67% sejak November 2012.
Kembali
ke penghentian impor daging AS oleh Indonesia, sebuah peternakan di
Minnesota yaitu Cargill, telah merumahkan 2.000 pegawainya karena
penurunan permintaan.
Sebuah peternakan di California yaitu Monterey County juga menurun bisnisnya dan mengurangi jumlah pekerjanya.
"Semakin
sulit bagi para peternak dan petani untuk bertahan di bisnis ini karena
tingginya biaya dan juga harga tanah di negara ini, terutama di
California. Karena itu jumlah pekerja kami semakin sedikit dan produksi
akhirnya menurun,: ujar pemilik Monterey yaitu Kester.
Di 2011
lalu, angka ekspor daging AS menyentuh US$ 5,4 miliar dan awalnya
ditargetkan bisa naik di 2012. Namun ternyata angka ekspor ke Indonesia
turun 91% dari Januari hingga November 2012.
Asosiasi Peternak
Nasional AS mengatakan hanya ada dua negara, yaitu Indonesia dan
Thailand yang menghentikan impor daging dari AS karena masalah sapi gila
di California.
Indonesia memang memperketat kuota dan
persyaratan bagi para eksportir AS yang ingin memasukkan barangnya. Para
peternak AS saat ini menghadapi risiko dan ketidakpastian penjualan
daging ke Indonesia.
Selain soal pengetatan kuota, para
eksportir daging AS juga menghadapi persoalan sulit untuk menjual daging
ke Indonesia yang merupakan negara dengan mayoritas penduduk muslim.
Indonesia
memberi syarat agar daging yang diimpor disembelih sesuai dengan cara
Islam. Ini membuat eksportir daging AS harus menyesuaikan diri
Menurut
pejabat pemerintahan AS, kebijakan penghentian impor daging dan produk
agrikultur asal AS oleh pemerintah Indonesia telah menghancurkan
peraturan perdagangan global. Jika kedua negara ini belum menemukan kata
sepakat, pemerintah AS mengancam untuk menuntut Indonesia ke markas
WTOdi Jenewa pada Maret 2013 nanti.
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