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Money Matters

Feast of sacrifice

By Tariq Ahmed Saeedi
Mon, 09, 16

TRADE

Buyers who are jazzed about the Karachi Cattle Market are hard to come by. Still their weak buying power is nowhere close to the enthusiasm for a stopover.

The market, called Maweshi Mandi in vernacular, accommodates Rs200 to 250 crores worth of livestock coming from across the country. 

Jahangir Chaudhry, the market’s administrator says almost all these cattle are likely to be sold before Eid. “Because of improving security situation, we are witnessing a surge in the number of visitors,” says Chaudhry, who runs his own Allah Rakha Cattle Farm.

An estimated 125,000 animals, including cows, goats and camels have landed across 950 acres of areas along the superhighway connecting the metropolis to the country. The traders occupy 750 acres of the spacious ground for showcasing cows alone.  

Most of the cattle are from Sahiwal, Rahim Yar Khan and Bhawalpur. An average price of a cattle from these areas is between Rs100,000 and Rs300,000. The minimum price of a cow from Sindh or Balochistan is Rs45,000 to 50,000. Some bulls have a price tag of one or two million rupees, but such a specially-reared variety is small in numbers.

Apart from religious obligations, people also prefer to buy the livestock to meet the meat shortfall after Eid. Usually, the meat shops are closed for almost a month after the festivity. The livestock buying is also akin to buying meat in advance for a month.

On security arrangements, Chaudhry says around 1,500 private guards are deployed at the market, while two ambulances and a fire brigade truck are also there to handle any untoward situation.

He says his is a first-time experience as administrator and, “I will yet to decide whether or not it is good.”  The administrator is usually hired on certain percentage in the total income of the land-owning Karachi Cantonment Board.

A cattle trader has to pay one thousand rupee as the entry fee for a cow/camel, while the tariff is Rs600 for a goat. The rent of a small pen is Rs20,000, excluding electricity tariff, which ranges between Rs50 and Rs70 per energy saver. The administration, however, provides lights through 2,000 polls fixed across the market. It says water is also distributed free of cost to the cattle traders.   

The rent of ‘VIP’ enclosure is high. The rent is for almost a month. The traders who are joining the pageant in the final days are also to pay the same fixed rent. A large number of traders from mainly the Punjab and upper Sindh gather at the place to sell their animals.

Ali Akhter, hailing from Shikarpur, says he paid around Rs100,000 for a pen to accommodate a horde of 180 animals. He arrived at the market only last week. But, to his bad luck he offloaded his stock at the wrong place and for that he and his relatives had to undergo a hard time.

“I am feeling very much embarrassed with the treatment,” bemoans Akther coming out of the administrator’s office. “We made the required payment through the pay order…we should be allotted a plot.”

Traders have an ease of secured banking transactions through a makeshift branch of Habib Metropolitan Bank, which mainly provides deposit and pay order services. Two auto teller machines are also fixed for the cash withdrawal.

The bank manager was hesitant to share the daily transaction details, but he said the branch was working round the clock on roster.

It is not just a cattle selling business that attracts traders, cow-grooming trinkets are also a hot sale.

“As compared to the last year, the number of customers is low,” says a Bajore-based trader who sets up an ornament stall every year. He, along with his three or four partners, procures these stuffs from Lahore.

“Last year we manage to have a total of Rs750,000 in profits,” he says. “The business is yet to gain traction this season.”

A sugarcane juice seller was also not satisfied with his sale. “I got the space in the mandi (market) on Rs8,000 in a hope that I would recover the amount during the humid weather, but I am doubtful,” says Mohammad Mursalin of Bangladesh’s origin. He couldn’t clearly explain who he had paid this money to.  

“You can see a score of sugarcane machines at every nook and corner,” says Mursalin, referring to a reason behind the weak sale.

Waiting for buyers at his pen, a trader, however, expressed his confidence over the rise in sales over the weekends. “Usually, people make buying during the last days,” he said.

The cattle traders refute the argument that small cattle markets organised in the city are affecting the business in the main market. “Visitors prefer buying from here,” he says. 

The Sindh home department allowed cattle markets on at least seven locations, in addition to the superhighway. Cantonment boards also permitted these setups in some areas.

The temptation of visiting superhighway maweshi mandi is, in fact, unmatchable for the citizens. They are visiting the place in spite of Congo virus advisories and its location on the city’s periphery.

“There might be a danger, but I come here every year with family to entertain my kids,” says a visitor guarding four carefree kids around the market.

The writer is a stafff member