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Indonesia phone tapping scandal could hurt live exports

The boss of Elders is hoping the Indonesian phone tapping scandal will be resolved before the live export trade is affected.

According to Stock Journal, Indonesia has threatened to freeze its live exports trade with Australia after it was uncovered that Australian spies had tapped the phones of president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and his wife.
Elders chief executive, Malcolm Jackman, said if this happens, both the Australian industry and Indonesian consumers will be hurt.

"Nobody wants to see that, that's for sure," Jackman said. "My observation is on both sides, Australian and Indonesian, there has been a bit of rhetoric, but on the other hand … everybody wants to keep this as a diplomatic issue. As a businessman leading a company that has a large presence in Indonesia I endorse those sentiments."

The Australian Livestock Exporters Council has said there's been no disruption to the cattle trade since the spying story broke, with the council anticipating the number of cattle exported to Indonesia this year will be 150,000 above quota.

Jackman said a freeze on live exports would not only drive beef prices in Indonesia up, but would take the cattle industry in Australia back to the days when the Gillard government froze all live exports to Indonesia amid claims abattoir workers were mistreating animals.

"There'd be no winners from a trade point of view in terms of any of this rhetoric turning into action," Jackman said.                                           

Elders is Australia’s biggest live cattle exporter.

 

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