Sylhet Correspondent :
Sacrificial animal prices may mark a 30-40 per cent rise during Eid-ul Azha, the Muslims’ second largest religious festival.
Traders, however, hinted at little possibility of hike in the cattle prices ahead of this Eid. The market price of each cattle increased by Tk 10,000 to Tk 50,000 in respect of size.
Sylhet’s beef traders say the decline in imports of Indian cows has already impacted the market. In all the retail and wholesale markets, cow prices have gone up by 30-40 per cent.
“Beef is now selling at Tk 400 a kg in some city markets,” said Shamim Ahmed, President of Sylhet Meat Traders Association.
Beef demand was met by the local market over the past three months, but now the supply is dwindling, Shamim added.
“There is a grave concern that cattle prices would skyrocket during the coming Eid-ul-Azha,” he said.
Meanwhile, the government has initiated to import cattle from Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar to meet local demand for sacrificial animals, but it is not sufficient this time.
Traders claimed that the government had decided to import cattle from Nepal, Bhutan and Myanmar at the eleventh hour. For this reason, cattle price will be up.
The country’s livestock supply during the religious festival would remain low and its prices would be abnormally high if government steps fail this time, market operators feared. There is a fear in general that many may not be able to sacrifice cow this time due to soaring prices and some may switch over to sacrificing goat.
A shortfall of at least 10 lakh cattle heads is feared.
This shortfall is expected despite assurances from the Department of Livestock that it has about 96.35 lakh cattle heads, including buffalo, goat and sheep, ready to go to the market ahead of Eid, due on September 24.
The cattle market will face the crunch, as the Indian authorities slapped a ban on export and smuggling of cattle to Bangladesh across the border.
Narsingdi Correspondent adds: A large number of local cattle including bullocks, cows and buffaloes are being taken to different sacrificial markets including the biggest Potia Market at Shibpur Upazila in the district one week ahead of Eid-ul-Azha .
According to sources , a total of 105 cattle head markets are running in the district. The upazila wise markets are as, sadar-31,Belabo-10, Monohardi 19, Shibpur-11, Polash 06 and Raipura 28. On the other hand hast of the cattle heads are being attacked by leg disease (khura) while the customers are not interested to purchase as it is not perfect for sacrifice in the Eid-ul-Azha.
Animal Livestock Officer Dr. Md. Hassan Imam told The New Nation that above one lakh cows have been supplied on ahead of Eid-ul-Azha from 532 diary farms and 4000 readers in different markets.
The owner of Baki Diary farm Sharifuzzaman of Basail under Narsingdi city said, the number of cow traders is less than previous years as the local traders are interested to purchase a little cows.
Even the cows and buffeters of Lustration spices are not selling satisfactorily causing profit of the owners. The importance of the second biggest cows market in the country Potia fall off due to communication problem.
The leasee of potia hat Abdul Jalil Member told this correspondent that this hat always sat on Saturday while it also sat two days including Wednesday too on ahead Eid.
Farmer Nazrul Islam of South Mirjanagar village returning have with lies Australian cow as it was raised 2.25 lakh as pries which was sold at tk 2.00 lakh last year. Another tradev Abdul Mannan of village Kumradi saed his bullock profit Tk 10 Thousands as the buyers told Tk 55 thousands.
Trader Khorshed Miah of same area told that he brought three bullocks on upcoming Eid-ul-Azha for sale while one bullock died of leg (khura) disease attacked valued Tk. 56000. The indian cows are not available at potia market this year. The trader Amjad Hossain said.
According to different cattle head market sources ari extra large bull in now being sold at rates between Taka 60,000 to 70,000 against last years rate of Taka 75000 to Taka 85,000 and large one at Taka 45,000 to 50,000 against last years rate of Taka 40000 to 45,0000.
A mediun-size bull in selling at Taka 35,000 to 40,000 against last years aver age rate of Taka 40,000 to 45,000 while small one is being sold at Taka 30,000 to 32000 with possibilities of price reduction ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha festivity.
However, prices of goats are comparatively higher this year and a big goat is being sold at Tk 40,000 to 50,000 medium-size at Tk 15,000 to 20,000 while a small one is being sold at Taka 6,000 to 7,500 at different markets now the sources said.
