Cattle markets in the capital have gained momentum but the traders expressed their unhappiness over slow sale of sacrificial animals, although the Eid-ul-Azha is only two days left.
Sale of cattle is yet to get a boom as the buyers are taking time to purchase the sacrificial animal with the hope of price fall, according to traders.
Keramat Ali, a cattle trader of Kushtia brought 22 cows at cattle markets set up in city’s Gopibagh Balur Math and open spaces adjacent to Kamalapur Stadium.
But he could not sale any of his cattle till Friday afternoon due to lack of buyers.
“Customers are not buying yet on the hope that prices of cattle may fall just before the Eid-ul-Azha,” Keramat Ali told The New Nation.
Many other cattle traders also narrated the similar story as Keramat Ali to this correspondent during the spot visit.
The market saw an adequate number of locally raised cows brought from different districts across the country.
The cattle traders are seeking Tk 120,000 – Tk 180,000 for a big size of cow, Tk 70,000 – Tk 100,000 for a medium size of cow and Tk 40,000 – Tk 60,000 for a small size of cow.
However, buyers were dissatisfied with the asking for cattle prices terming those as ‘very high.’
“Traders were asking for high prices for their animals which turned me back not to buy a cow,” Monir Hossain, a buyer, told The New Nation.
He said prices of sacrificial animals are seemed to be high this year compared to those with the previous year.
A similar picture was also found while visiting city’s Gabtoli cattle market on Friday, though the market was abuzzed with sacrificial animals.
“The market is full of sacrificial animals. Many more are due to come. But disputation of ferry service halted their arrival,” said a lessee of Gabtoli cattle market.
According to the Local Government Division sources, some 24 cattle markets
have been set up in the city’s different areas from Wednesday while buying and selling of animals would continue in those markets before the Eid day.
Besides, the veterinary doctors are examining the health of the cows, goats and buffaloes at the entry of the cattle market. While paying a visit to the Gabtoli cattle market, it was found that the bulls, buffaloes, goats, camels and lambs were in sufficient numbers.
The price of the bulls was ranging from Tk 50,000 – 500.000 and the goats from Tk 8,000 – 25,000 depending on the sizes of the sacrificial animals.
Besides, three camels have arrived at the Gabtoli market and the traders are asking for separate prices of Tk 14 lakh, Tk 16 lakh and Tk 17 lakh respectively.
Small-sized cows are being sold at quite high prices due to their higher demands among buyers.
Rezaul Karim, who bought a small size cow at Tk 65,000 at Bhasantak-Mirpur-13 cattle market, said the price of same-sized sacrificial animal was at best Tk 55,000 last year.
Though the prices of the big-sized cattle are comparatively cheaper than small-sized ones, their prices are still much higher then the previous year.
A government official, Tanzirul Islam, who bought a bull at Tk 1.2 lakh from the cattle market, said the prices of big-sized cattle are higher by Tk 20,000 – 15,000 this year than that of the last year.
Showing the cattle he bought, Tanzirul said the same cow was sold at around Tk 1 lakh to 1.1 lakh last year.
Md Nasir Uddin, a leaser of the cattle market, said the sale would get momentum on Sunday morning with moderate supply of cattle to their market.
Talking to The New Nation at Jatrabari cattle market, Mostofa Mollah, a resident of Jatrabari, said he has bought a cow at Tk 75,000 after a long bargaining and spending huge time and energy. “Such cattle were sold at about Tk 55,000 last year.”
He said though the cattle supply is adequate, the traders are charging high prices as they think there might be a cattle crisis at the last moment as the supply of Indian cattle is poor this time.
