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Aussie beef producers prepare for high demand following US mad cow disease outbreak

Indonesia has suspended some beef imports from the US following the detection of mad cow disease in California, and Australian producers are hoping to benefit from the incident with increased exports.

The Indonesian government confirmed it would be suspending US beef imports and two major South Korean retailers, Homeplus and Lotte Mart – immediately halted sales of the products as the news of the bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) case broke.

Indonesia has suspended imports of boned meat and innards from US beef but boneless meat remains unaffected.

"We have decided to stop importing bone meal, innards and boned meat from the United States, but imports of boneless meat will continue," Indonesia’s deputy agriculture minister Rusman Heriawan said.

"The suspension starts today, but we don’t know how long it will remain in effect," he said, adding that shipments en route will not be affected.

Only a small amount of Indonesia’s beef imports come from the US, and most come from Australia and New Zealand.

Indonesia has suspended some beef imports from the US following the detection of mad cow disease in California, and Australian producers are hoping to benefit from the incident with increased exports.

However, the outbreak in 2006 was much larger than the latest one, which has only been detected in a single cow.

The US has proclaimed that the detection of the disease during routine inspections highlights an effective testing process, and no other animals have been found to have the disease.

But in the case of mad cow disease, many countries will exercise caution and halt imports until the storm passes.

Canada and Japan have said they will continue to import US beef and head of the Northern Territory Cattlemen’s Association Luke Bowen told The ABC that while Australian producers are sympathetic to the American predicament, they also hope the outbreak will benefit them again as it did previously.

US beef exports dropped by almost $3 million following the first outbreak of mad cow disease in 2003.

"Certainly when the cases in early 2000 broke out in Canada and the US and in Europe there was a large void in those Japanese and Korean markets, which Australia was able to fill, and the Americans have only just started to claw back some of those gains that Australia made through that period," Bowen said.

"And we’ve also seen a free-trade agreement signed between America and Korea which has strengthened their trading position as well, so clearly the Americans would have a lot to lose if they were to lose access to those markets."

BSE is highly contagious between animals, and is thought to have caused over 200 human deaths worldwide.

Image: Department of Primary Industries

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