Livestock prices bite ahead of Eid
TRADERS SAY SHEEP IMPORTS COMING VIA AIR CARGO INSTEAD OF BY SEA ARE ADDING TO COSTS BUT INSIST THERE IS NO SHORTAGE
Prices of sacrificial animals have almost doubled ahead of Eid Al Adha, with livestock sellers mainly pointing to higher transportation costs for Indian imports.
Small goats or sheep that were costing in the range of Dh600 to Dh700 per head earlier this month now cost around Dh1,000 to Dh1,200.
Traders at the Mina Livestock Market in Abu Dhabi said Indian sheep nowadays are being transported to the UAE by air cargo to meet the demand for Eid Al Adha, which falls on Friday this year, adding to transport costs.
Earlier, the animals used to be transported by ship from India, which takes longer. In peak summer, cattle are not usually transported by sea due to the long journey and the chances of them falling sick or dying on the way.
Daulat Khan, a trader at Mina animal bazaar, said, “Nowadays Indian lambs and sheep are coming by air cargo, which led to increase in their prices. Earlier they were transported by ship.”
Nine months of the year, Indian animals are imported into the UAE by ship while, during the three hotter months [June, July, August], the sea routes are avoided, he said.
However, new arrivals by ship will resume from next month, Khan said.
Khan said an air cargo carries about 2,000 animals, while ships ferries over 4,000 to 6,000 at a time.
At the Dubai Cattle Market, price lists topped at Dh3,000 per head for goats and sheep that weighed 40kg or more. Indian goat and UAE sheep — such as the Najdi variety — are in high demand, traders said.
Livestock prices are dictated by the weight, health, variety and the country from which they originate.
Some livestock sellers on Tuesday said prices could peak on the first day of Eid when most people sacrifice an animal — usually goats or sheep, sometimes a cow. Others said it was difficult to predict the prices, which “could go either way” depending on the supplydemand equation.
Mohammad Zaman Omarzay, a British businessman in Dubai, said yesterday that the prices were too high for his budget for three sheep. “Right now, it’ll cost me around Dh2,200 per sheep. That’s too much. What I’m going to do is wait until the second or third day of Eid and get the same sheep for around Dh900 or Dh1,000 per head. That’s what I usually do if I don’t like the ‘Eid rate’. There’s no need to rush,” Omarzay said.
Consumers have voiced complaints about traders inflating prices using Eid Al Adha as an alibi. Emirati Fatah Abdullah said, “It’s almost double the price ahead of Eid and, on the first day, it would further jump up, while prices would again be normalised on third day of Eid.”
Customer feedback
“We used to buy the same Najdi and Naeemi [both local breeds] earlier at Dh1,000 and Dh1,200 but now they ask for Dh2,000 and Dh2,200,” Abdullah said. “I want to buy three Naeemi for sacrifice and came before Eid to get good price but it’s very high,” he said, adding that he had tried bargaining with different traders at the market.
Another buyer, Mohammad Shoaib from Pakistan, said, “I am looking for three lambs but surprised to know prices of goats. “The price of sacrificial animals here is very high. They are selling Pakistani lambs at Dh1,800, which used to be a few months back at Dh600 or Dh700. It’s too much,” Shoaib said.
But traders blamed the higher prices on trends in the markets from where they themselves buy and on the higher cost due to air transportion.
Asmatullah, a trader, said, “Now we don’t have options but to buy from Dubai or local farms since Irani lambs have been banned for years.”
Asmatullah has traded cattle in Abu Dhabi for past 20 years.
But traders concurred that there is no shortage in the market.
Mohammad Baber, owner of Halawi Cattle Trading and Refrigerating company at Mina, said: “There is no shortage of sacrificial animals in the market. It’s coming from the local farmers and India.”
There has only been a slight increase in prices due to Eid Al Adha, Baber maintained. Prices of local Najdi and Naeemi sheep remain almost same around the year but, due to Eid, their prices had risen by about Dh100, he said.