Indonesian Agriculture Minister Suswono Arsyaf said on Tuesday that the government has started reducing live cattle imports as the domestic supply has been sufficient.

The government had decided to gradually slash cow importation from about 400,000 last year to 283,000 this year, the minister said.

"The reduction of importation has started this year. We expect to reduce it to 283,000 this year," he said at the State Palace.

Most of Indonesia's live cattle imports were shipped from neighboring Australia, so the reduction has drawn concern among the cattle producers in the country.

Indonesian Deputy Agriculture Minister Rusman Heriawan has said that the country's cattle production has reached the self- sufficiency target of more than 14 million.

"We are going to optimize the usage of potential domestic supply. Basically the importation aims to meet the supply gap only. We have huge potential, (but) recently our cattle raisers have gotten the pressure of lower prices," said Suswono.

Nevertheless, the minister said that Indonesia, the vast archipelago country, still faces the problem of transportation for its cattle.

"We will improve the facility. And hopefully our cattle producers can enjoy an appropriate price," he said.

Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyoho has attempted to build massive infrastructure facilities including transport facility to help spur the economic growth annual target by an average of 6.6 percent through the remainder of his term by 2014. The hike of the country's sovereign debt status from BB+ to BBB- on Dec. 15 by Fitch's Rating Agency is expected to help smooth the government expectation to have the two thirds of its massive funds for infrastructure coming from private sectors.

Last year, Australia suspended live cattle exports to Indonesia due to accusation of brutality at slaughtering houses in Indonesia, then it resumed the shipment to Indonesia later.