Australia welcomes Indonesia's decision to increase live cattle imports

Australia has on Wednesday welcomed Indonesia's decision to ramp up live cattle imports for the final quarter of the year, following the Southeast Asian nation's decision last quarter to cut imports.

Indonesia's new Trade Minister Tom Lembong said he plans to import between 200,000 and 300,000 cattle from Australia from October until December this year, just a month after the shock decision from his predecessor to import only 50,000 throughout the third quarter.

Australia's Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce, who oversees the sale of live cattle to markets such as Indonesia, praised the decision, describing it as "vitally important" to both the Indonesian and Australian economies.

"We know we must work in a partnership to keep protein affordable to them because that is almost the sacred connection - we supply the protein, they consume the protein, they make a dollar, we make a dollar - and it's a very strong working relationship that we should never ever put at risk," he told reporters on Wednesday.

Last month, Indonesia revealed it would only approve 50,000 head of cattle to be imported from Australia between July and September this year, down from 250,000 head the previous quarter.

The opposition blamed tensions between the two nations as a reason for the snub.

After Indonesia ignored pleas from the Australian government in April regarding the execution of drug smugglers Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran, the government significantly cut its foreign aid quota to Indonesia.

However recent talks between the two nations' foreign ministers have dispelled rumors of a frayed relationship.

Meanwhile, over the last two to three months, Joyce said he had been negotiating deals with other growing middle-class economies about opening a "longer term window" for cattle exportation.

China, Vietnam and nations in the Middle East were among those he had held talks with, the agriculture minister said.