Indonesian cattle cuts 'to hit NT'

Indonesia's decision to slash Australian live cattle imports will hurt the industry across the country's north, an analyst says.

NT live exporters will be hardest hit by Indonesia's decision to slash imports of Australian cattle, experts say. (AAP) Source: AAP

Live exporters across the Northern Territory will be hardest hit by Indonesia's decision to slash imports of Australian cattle, an analyst says.

Indonesia has announced it will only allow in 50,000 head of cattle between July and September this year, down from 250,000 the previous quarter.

The Australian Livestock Exporters Council (ALEC) says the quota reduction is significantly below expectations, and has taken the industry by surprise.

ALEC does not believe the reduction has been made for political reasons.

Rabobank senior analyst Angus Gidley-Baird said farmers in the Northern Territory would be hit hardest by the decision.

"The northern part of Australia is more heavily geared towards live export, and particularly the Northern Territory," Mr Gidley-Baird told Sky Business.

"Queensland has a few more options with more processing clients."

On the positive side, the move by Indonesia would probably be softened by the current tight global supply of beef, he said.

"We've got very strong demand out of the US, we've got strong demand continuing out of China, Japan, Korea and it's driving the global demand.

"It's very positive, and if you were to pick a time when it wouldn't have as big an impact, probably now is the time."

Shares in the nation's biggest beef and cattle producer, Australian Agricultural Company (AACo), have fallen roughly 1.5 per cent on Tuesday.

AACo is being sought for comment on Indonesia's decision to cut live cattle imports.

In recent times, AACo has lifted its sales of processed and packaged meat, in line with its strategy of becoming less dependent on producing live cattle for volatile domestic markets.

Shares in Australian agribusiness company Elders are up about 0.9 per cent.