The Federal Government says it is working with its Indonesian counterpart to find out more about the 5 percent tariff recently applied to live cattle imports.

A spokesman for federal trade minister Craig Emerson told Beef Central this week the Government was aware of the industry’s serious concerns about the tariff.

“We have already raised our concerns with senior Indonesian officials and we will continue to discuss the issue with them on behalf of our cattle industry,” the spokesman said.

“Indonesian authorities indicated the tariff change relates to a definitional issue arising from the routine updating of tariff schedules earlier this year.”

He added that it was not yet clear how the change fits with Australia and Indonesia’s mutual trade obligations, particularly the rules agreed in the ASEAN-Australia-New Zealand Free Trade Agreement.

However, he said it was not related to changes to export standards introduced by Australia.

“This tariff issue is not related to the implementation of Australia’s exporter supply chain assurance system for live cattle, which has been operating successfully for almost a year.

“Nor have Indonesian authorities suggested this issue relates to Indonesia’s self-sufficiency target.”