The IPB Expert Talk on the Beef Price Hikes

The beef price hikes and other essential components will mostly affect people in their preparation to celebrate their Eid day will be the trend every year. Why does this happen? Because of the tradition, taste, and administration. It was explained by Bramada Winiar Putra, S.Pt, M.Si, one of the lecturers of the Faculty of Animal Husbandry of IPB, as an Expert for the Dialogue on Rural Broadcasting of Radio Republik Indonesia (RRI) recently.

Bram, the common name his colleagues of the junior lecturer called him, explained, when people are about to celebrate the Eid day they usually plan to hold plenty of ritual meals and tend to be excessive. Almost all people with different backgrounds of professions, be them employees, labours, farmers, fishermen, or even officials, all wishing to entertain their  relatives with meat as the main menu. "According to them, Eid day will become incomplete celebration if they couldn’t serve meat or opor ayam for that special day," he said. This phenomenon is causing the increase of the market demand for beef which in turn led to the price of beef has hit a record high skyrocketed. "The flavour or taste has triggered high demand. Beef for example, it is a compulsory food for Eid day. Although other communities have their own preferences of meat options. For example, Batak and Betawi people are more likely to have domestic chickens as their ritual meals, whereas for Banten and Sulawesi people they prefer buffalo meat rather than beef.

In addition, the Beef Trade is also become one of the main causes of the high price of beef and other basic needs. The price of imported cattle in the importing countries actually are remain the same or has not changed. Also the price of broilers and eggs do not necessary increase because the prices of its raw feed materials and production are stable. "But the long of the marketing chain from the producers to the customers, it led to the price of the product has become expensive," he concluded. (Wied).