Beef sells Tk 500/kg in Dhaka
Beef prices soar as meat traders were selling it at Tk 500 per kilogramme in different markets in Dhaka today following withdrawal of their six-day strike on Saturday.
Low supply of the cattle has caused the rise of beef price for the time being in the markets, alleged the traders.
READ MORE: Meat pricier as cattle market lessee overcharges
The demand for red meat, however, dropped to a great extent due to the overcharges, reports our correspondent after visiting several markets in the capital.
Bangladesh Meat Merchant Association (BMMA) Secretary General Robiul Alam, who has meat shop at Rayer Bazar, said that the recent strike on selling red meat led the scarcity of cattle supply.
READ MORE: No red meat for six days
“We had sold beef at Tk 470- Tk 480 before the protest. But now we have no other option except selling at Tk 500 to meet up our costs,” he said.
Meat traders at Karwan Bazar, Gabtoli and Mirpur areas also echoed him.
However, Shamim Ahmed of Shamim Mangshaw Bitan at Mirpur-11 told The Daily Star that he sold beef at Tk 480 per kilogramme today.
‘Cheaper beef mixed with Buffalo mostly’
A number of traders alleged that most of those who charge customers below Tk 500 for per kilogramme mixed buffalo meat with it.
Jakir Hossain, a buffalo meat supplier from Karwan Bazar said he supplied meat for Tk 450 per kilogramme to different hotels, restaurants and shops.
READ MORE: Red meat crisis hits Dhaka residents hard
“But for the last two days, we could slaughter only four buffalos where the number was seven to eight before it,” he said.
Another buffalo trader at the same market, seeking his anonymity, told this correspondent that beef being sold below Tk 500 per kg must contain buffalo meat.
Almost half of the total red meat supply in the market includes buffalo meat, alleged some traders at the Gabtoli cattle market, adding that the overcharges affected the overall sale.
The meat traders went to strike on Monday protesting "overcharging" of fees (hasil) by the lessee at Gabtoli cattle market, the prime source of red meat in Dhaka.
Meat traders resumed selling red meat in market yesterday on conclusion of their six-day strike in Dhaka city on Saturday.
The traders also threatened to go for countrywide strike if their demands are not met by 15 days.
Their demands include cancellation of contract with the current lessee of the Gabtoli cattle market.
Another of their demands is provision for legal import of cattle from Bhutan, Myanmar and Nepal.
“If our demands are met, we can provide the customers with red meat at Tk 300 per kilogramme only,” Robiul Alam reiterated today.
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