More than 70 percent of Indonesian cattle lot feeders have now ceded to the Indonesian Government’s new rule requiring them to import cattle for breeding purposes so they can continue to import feeder cattle.

The director general of Indonesian’s Trade Ministry of Commerce, Okay Nurwan, told a press conference in Jakarta on Friday that 32 cattle lot feeding companies have now committed to the new policy, according to Indonesian media reports.

The rule requires importers to commit to importing one breeding animal for every five feeder or slaughter cattle they import.

The director general said that with the increase in the number of importers now committed to the new policy, permits have now been released for the import of 123,800 cattle for the next two months to 31 December 2016.

Okay Nurwan said the Ministry of Trade and the Ministry of Agriculture will audit cattle imports at the end of 2018, to see that breeders represent 20pc of all imports.

That technically means importers don’t have to start importing breeder cattle with feeder cattle immediately, but must buy enough breeding cattle over the next two years to ensure they can demonstrate on December 31, 2018, that 20pc of their total cattle imports to that date were for breeding purposes.

He said that if 123,800 feeder cattle are imported in the next two months to December 31, 2016, “then at the end of 2018 there will be around 24,000-26,000 cattle breeders”.

The Director General of Foreign Trade Dody Edward told the same press conference that there 32 companies now committed to the cattle import regulations, representing 75 percent of the country’s feedlots.

The 1:5 breeder to feeder rule is the Indonesian Government’s latest attempt to try to enforce a rapid expansion of its domestic cattle herd and to achieve self-sufficiency in beef production.