Western Australia's live cattle exports to Indonesia rise, despite setbacks earlier in the year

Western Australia's live export cattle trade started the new year on tenterhooks, after trade with its biggest buyer was anchored for six weeks. It followed an import permit delay due to general elections in Indonesia, seeing multiple consignments of cattle being held in yards, as ships waited outside of Australian ports. The long-awaited first shipment finally left Broome in March, loaded with about 2000-head. Since then Meat & Livestock Australia figures show 82,217 cattle from WA have been sent to Indonesia in the calendar year-to-October, up 26pc year-on-year. In the same period, almost 340,000 head have been exported nationally - a whopping 51pc increase year-on-year. WA Livestock Exporters' Association chairman John Cunnington said cattle import permits would normally be issued in the first two weeks of January. "All permits expired at the end of December, so essentially from January 1 to mid February no cattle were shipped to Indonesia," Mr Cunnington said. "We couldn't ...