Capital’s cattle markets still gaining momentum
As Eid-ul-Azha draws nearer, city dwellers have begun rushing to cattle markets to buy sacrificial animals of their choice.
Traders and buyers yesterday had mixed reactions over the price of cattle. Some buyers claimed traders were demanding high prices, while some traders said they are not getting just value for their cattle.
Yesterday, the correspondents visited five makeshift cattle markets -- Kochukhet, Bhashantek, Kauartek, Dhupkhola and Kamalapur -- and the permanent cattle market in Gabtoli.
Trader Al-Amin, who had brought 24 cows from Kustia to the Kamalapur haat, had already sold 22 till 4pm yesterday.
“If I calculate transportation, cattle feed and labour cost, we’ve so far incurred loss of about Tk 35,000,” he said.
Pointing to one of his unsold red ox, he said, “I bought this big one at Tk 1.35 lakh last year and spent another Tk 40,000, but people are not bidding more than Tk 1.5 lakh.”
Last year, he sold 13 cows and went home with a loss of Tk 55,000, said Al-Amin.
However, trader Sanwar Mandal made profit last year. He brought 15 cows this year at Kauartek cattle market.
He bought a red Sindhi breed bull weighing about 15-maund, for which his asking price is Tk 5 lakh. “So far, the highest bid was Tk 3.5 lakh,” he added.
Accompanied by his uncle and cousin, Jinnat Ali brought 12 mid-sized cattle from Chuadanga on Tuesday. Till yesterday afternoon, he could only sell about four of them.
“We’ve made some profit from the selling of four cows, but if we could not sell all of them we’ll make a huge loss,” he said, adding, buyers were yet to show up in full scale.
This newspaper also talked to several buyers at the haats.
Fearing price hike, some were buying cattle whereas some were still waiting for further drop in prices. Buyer Reshadur Rahman said there is still a huge number of cattle available in the market. “The price may fall further. I’ll buy when that happens,” he said.
Sabbir Ahmed, a banker, told the correspondent that traders were asking excessive prices for medium size bulls, as those are in high demand.
No matter what, I’ll buy one today [Saturday]. I don’t want to take a chance,” he added.
Meanwhile a buyer was seen leaving Kamalapur market with a red bull, weighing over five maunds.
“It cost Tk 1.2 lakh,” he replied to the correspondent.
According to statistics of the Department of Livestock (DLS), there are more than 1.17 crore cattle, including cows, bulls, buffaloes, goats and sheep in the market this Eid.
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