Indonesia on June 15 officially removed import quotas on live cattle as part of efforts to strengthen national food security.

Malaysia has temporarily suspended live cattle and buffalo imports from Australia, the Australian government said, days after Indonesia paused some imports after lumpy skin disease (LSD) was detected in a small number of cattle after arrival.

The southern province of Long An has provided Svay Rieng province of Cambodia with 1,000 litres of disinfectant and 10,000 doses of vaccine against foot-and-mouth disease in cattle, said an agricultural official.

Provinces across the country are taking action to prevent the spread of disease that has affected cattle and poultry breeding facilities and farms in recent weeks.

Over 2,160 cattle were killed or starved to death as of January 30 as a result of the cold spell that was raging across mountainous areas of the north, central and Central Highlands regions.

Next year, Vietnam expects to produce and provide a sufficient supply of vaccines against foot-and-mouth disease, an infectious and sometime fatal viral disease that affects cloven-hoofed animals, including cattle and pigs, as heard at a conference in Hanoi on December 18.

The cattle foot-and-mouth disease type A has been put under control in the country with only one hotbed left in Ia Sal Commune, Ayum Pa Town in the Central Highlands province of Gia Lai as of August 11.

More than 3.8 million cows and buffaloes, equal to 80 percent of their numbers in high-risk areas across the country, are expected to be immunized against foot-and-mouth disease by 2020.

The freezing weather from January 22-30 has caused severe damage to the central province of Thanh Hoa, especially agriculture, livestock, and seafood.

The severe cold weather in recent days has caused damage to numerous localities in the northern part of Vietnam.

Australian live cattle exporters breathed a sigh of relief after Indonesia permitted the import of 200,000 heads of feeder cattle in the fourth quarter.

Indonesia will import 50,000 ready-to-slaughter cattle from Australia in response to a sharp increase in the price of domestic beef, said Minister of Trade Rachmat Gobel.