Both buyers, sellers worried over prices

Sacrificial animals have started arriving in the capital’s cattle markets from different parts of the country, but both buyers and sellers are worried about prices.

Buyers say prices are higher than last year while sellers claim prices have gone up due to rising costs of cattle rearing and feed.

Both parties have expressed concern about whether they will be able to buy and sell at their desired prices while talking to The Business Post at the Aftabnagar and Gabtoli cattle markets in the capital on Monday.

Haji Humayun Bhuiyan, a resident of Rampura who came to the Aftabnagar market, said traders were asking for prices almost twice as much as last year. 

Five university students, including Faysal and Rayhan who live in Banasree, were walking around the market. They said they had come only to check prices and found prices were really higher than last year.

Several other potential buyers said the same, expressing worries over whether they would be able to purchase cattle within their affordability.

Seller Alamgir and his assistant came to Dhaka from Kushtia with 18 cows in the morning. They said all their cows were big and reared domestically. They asked for over Tk 1 lakh for each animal.

Shah Alam and Saiful Islam said they and their assistants had brought 20 small cows of Friesian and Brahman breeds to Dhaka from Natore’s Singra, with prices ranging between Tk 6 lakh and Tk 15 lakh.

“Cattle rearing costs have increased. The prices of wheat bran used in cattle feed were Tk 30-40 per kg before, which has now risen to Tk 55-60 per kg. We need to spend Tk 600-700 every day on feeding and rearing a cow,” Shah Alam said.

This correspondent talked to a few more traders. They also said cattle rearing costs had risen and they were worried about whether they would be able to make profits.

Rayhan Bappi, a representative of the Aftabnagar market leaseholder authority, told The Business Post cows started arriving at the market two days ago.

He said cows of all sizes, including big and medium, were coming and more would come.

“Most houses in the capital do not have enough spaces to keep livestock for a long time. That is why city dwellers generally buy sacrificial animals two or three days before Eid. Some also buy on the day before Eid,” he added.       

Other cattle market authorities also said cows started coming to Dhaka two days ago but the markets were yet to gain momentum. They hoped sales would increase soon.

There will be 22 cattle markets, including in Gabtoli and Sarulia, in areas under the Dhaka South City Corporation (DSCC) and Dhaka North City Corporation (DNCC) this year. Of them, 12 are under DSCC and 10 under DNCC.

Although the markets are scheduled to open officially tomorrow, trade at most of them has already begun.