Cattle exporters must offer Indonesia more AUSTRALIAN cattle producers face increased competition in their largest live-export market of Indonesia, a conference in Darwin has heard. BUSTANUL Arifin, a professor of agricultural economics at Indonesia's University of Lampung, says President Joko Widodo's new government will keep trying to reduce Australian cattle imports to avoid becoming too dependent on them. Australia will have more competition thanks to new laws allowing the importation of cattle from countries such as Brazil, India and Malaysia, he warned the Northern Australia Food Futures Conference in Darwin on Tuesday. Competition will get tougher. Australian farmers need to be aware of that," he said. Australian beef producers could compete with other suppliers by linking up with small farming operations in Indonesia and offering them technical assistance as part of the trade relationship. Indonesia was Australia's largest live cattle export market in the last financial year, taking 55 per cent of total exports at 624,749 head, a relationship valued at $461 million. Its middle class will soon hit 100 million people, Prof Arifin said, with poorer citizens consuming about 2.3kg of meat a year, which rises to 10 or 12kg a year for the more affluent in Jakarta. Beef costs about $US10 ($A10.82) a kilogram in Indonesia, and it was hoped the increased competition among suppliers would make meat more affordable, he said. The new Widodo government has not yet put a target on Indonesia becoming self-sufficient with beef production, Prof Arifin said, and would likely not reveal its response to the plan to develop northern Australia until after it unveils its five-year strategic plan in January.