Transactions in the city's cattle markets started picking up Saturday with traders and buyers expressing their mixed opinions over the prices of sacrificial animals.
Customers turn up in the makeshift cattle markets in large number and sacrificial animals were also plenty this year in comparison to that of last year. Last year the cattle market faced a debacle due to Anthrax scare.
Many traders did not sell their cows until afternoon on Saturday with the hope of getting better price during nighttime or last moment sale while buyers were also keeping on bargaining over prices to win over the traders.
"I have been trying to sell my cows for the last two days but I could not as the possible profit is not up to my expectation level", said Anwarul Alam who brought seven cattle from Chuadanga- his home district.
While talking to the FE at Gabtoli cattle market, Anwarul said he was hopeful that he would be able to sell all the cattle on Friday. But it did not happen. The customers were moving from one corner to another to survey the price.
He said one more day in the market means wastage of at least Tk 1000 for per cattle.
He said the cost of cattle rearing had considerably increased over the last few years keeping pace with the inflation as well as high price of fodder. But the prices of cattle head quoted by the city dwellers are not satisfactory", said Anwarul with his utter frustration.
Malek Bepari, who came from Kurigram with 20 sacrificial animals, said he bought the cattle 6 months back and spent about Tk 15,000 per cattle for fattening up those with the hope of gaining a good frofit.
He said the prices of wheat-bran, oil-cake, molasses, pulses and broken rice and straws are very high this year.
A medium-sized cow was hiked Tk 50,000 on Saturday which was also sold at Tk 50,000 last year, said Alauddin Mia, who brought five medium -sized cows in the market and sold three of them. "Though prices of fodder and other things went up, cattle prices remained the same as of last year." he said.
Meanwhile, buyers, who have been visiting the city's different markets for the last several days, claimed that the cattle price is very high this year.
On a visit to city's Taltola, Gabtoli and Nayabazar cattle markets it was found that middle class people were cautious in buying sacrificial animals for budget constraints.
Humayun Kabir, a paper businessman of Nayabazar told the FE that this year traders are hiking price much higher than that of the previous year. "The price of a cattle head which is hiked Tk 40,000 this year was not more than Tk 30,000 last year." he said.
The price of goats is, however, not so high this year. The quoted price of a big -sized goat was between Tk 20,000 and Tk 40,000. Last year goats had very high demand due to Anthrax disease.
"I am charging Tk 50,000 for my goat as I have already got Tk 35,000 for the same -sized goat in Pabna," said Asadullah who came from Pabna with 10 goats at Gabtoli market.
Meanwhile, it is learnt that a lot of trucks loaded with cattle head are still on way to Dhaka. The trucks are delayed for the gridlock on Dhaka-Tangail and Dhaka-Mawa highways.
Samad Ali, a hassil (Toll) collector, said the new arrival will influence price in the cattle market.
A good number of law enforcers including elite force Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) were seen in the cattle market to safeguard the traders.
Our Chittagong correspondent adds: Cattle markets in the city found an aggressive sale as the sellers eased prices of cows primarily from North Bengal districts after several days of declining demand without expected number of buyers.
All major cattle markets including Bibirhat, Sagorika and Alangkar, Pahartali, Karnafuli third bridge markets saw heavy rush of buyers and their brokers today with only one day left for Eid-ul-Azha.
"More than fifty per cent of sacrificial cows and goats were sold on a single day today at all markets in the city," said Jalal Ahmed, an employee of Chittagong City Corporation, responsible for overlooking the markets.
Until Friday the sale of sacrificial animals was very poor as the buyers resorted to 'wait and see' for a chance to avail the reasonable price, sellers said.
Much to the woes of traders the cows were selling at prices of Tk 10-15 thousand lower than expected. A medium-large cow from Kushtia that was expected to draw Tk 75,000 Friday afternoon at the Alangkar cattle market was sold at Tk 62,000 Saturday morning, a trader said.
Big size bulls sold at Tk 65,000 while medium-size ones at Tk 40,000 today. Some buyers bought cows from Rangunia, Raozan and Fatikchhari in north Chitagong and Satkania and Banshkhali of the south at much favourable prices. Local varieties are selling cheaper than those from north Bengal, they said.
Traders said they are facing loss in the business this year primarily due to high cost of cattle feeds and excessive transport cost and traffic jam on the highways from north Bengal to Chittagong.
Security measures by the law enforcement agencies have been taken in all major markets with sufficient number of cops in temporary police control rooms.
Bangladesh Bank, district administration and the City Corporation authority and almost all private and state-owned scheduled banks have set up fake note detection booths at the cattle markets.
Both buyers and sellers have expressed satisfaction at deployment of police forces and fake notes detection counters in a great number.
Apart from major cattle markets there are so many street markets set up temporarily this year which also have drawn a number of buyers to avoid paying prescribed tolls.
Chittagong City Corporation is conducting all major cattle markets in the city and has fixed toll on sale at the rate of 5 per cent or Tk 50 against Tk 1000.
"All five markets on both sides of the Alangkar Road and two markets at the adjacent Sagorika area under Pahartali in the city experienced a dull day with virtually no sale Friday," said Ashraful Islam, a trader from Kushtia.
Islam said he brought 20 big-sized cows from Kushtia on November 1 but sold only three until Friday and 11 Saturday conceding loss of around Tk 10,000 on each.
According to his estimate the number of sacrificial cows at those seven markets was not less than 0.15 million and 70 per cent of those were from Kushtia and the rest were brought from Natore, Faridpur, Chapainababganj, Faridpur, Sirajganj and a few from India.
Smaller varieties from Kushtia and a bit larger varieties from India found a good demand, they said. The bulls from northern districts attracted buyers but they failed to purchase as the sellers demanded exorbitantly high price until Friday.
Indian bulls of the same size sold out at 20 per cent less than those of Kushtia but some buyers said they took less interest in Indian varieties because the bulls from Kushtia and Natore were more handsome and fit for sacrifice.
"Colour and health of most of the Indian cows are not that attractive compared to those from Kushtia. But they cost too high. We will see until today (Sunday) as there is an adequate supply of cows from those areas," local buyer Fazal Ahmed told this correspondent Friday afternoon.
Source: thefinancialexpress-bd.com
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