Cattle prices soar amid high demand a day before Eid

The supply of sacrificial animals in the capital's cattle markets has suddenly dropped a day before Eid, leading to a soaring price amid high demand for cattle.

The number of customers also increase suddenly on Friday. Many of them were seen going to one haat from another after failing to negotiate with the sellers. Some of them ended up buying the animal with an increased price.

With a fewer amount of customers visiting the haat, some cattle sellers had to sell the animals at a lower price during the last couple of days since taking the unsold cattle back involved some more expenses. 

But now, the supply of cattle decreased significantly due to the lower price, Moreover, many trucks carrying sacrificial animals are stuck due to the long tailback on highways since Thursday night.

Sarwar Alam, a private employe,e went to a haat in Uttara on Friday morning to buy sacrificial animal.

"There was only 10-12 cows in the haat and around 300 customers. The cow that was priced Tk60-65 thousand on last Tuesday, was sold at Tk90 thousands to Tk1 lakh on Friday," he said. 

He had to buy a cow that weighed four maunds with Tk95,000 (including hasil). 

Monzur Hasan Nizami, a resident of the capital's Adabor area went to Gabtoli haat on Friday morning. 

To his surprise, he saw that 70 percent of the temporary shades are empty. After roaming around for a while, he ended up buying a small cow that cost him Tk71,000. 

"I have been buying cows from Gabtoli haat for more than past 10 years. I never saw this much shortages of cow before," he told The Business Standard. 

He also said that wholesalers played a role in increasing the price. 

"Whenever a truck arrives with 4-5 cattle, the wholesalers rush to the truck and buy all the cattle," Monzur Hasan said. 

The price of cattle increases further because of being sold twice, he added.