No let-up in prices of sacrificial animals

LAHORE: Prices of sacrificial of animals did not come down on the eve of Eid as buyers were expecting correction in the rates for the last 10 days.

The rush of the buyers was also seen in Shahpur Kanjran central cattle market of the city besides the makeshift markets in different localities of Lahore. However, the cattle sellers kept moving the cattle to different makeshift markets of the city after getting information of better rates there.

The buyers were searching for healthy and good looking sacrificial animal at their affordable rates while the sellers were asking astonishing rates for good and healthy animals. They were asking the rates of Rs80,000 to 90,000 for a healthy and good looking animal which they sell finally around Rs65,000 after long bargains.

Similarly, for a good specie sheep they were asking Rs60,000 to 70,000 and finally selling at Rs50,000 range. The sellers were asking Rs65,000 to 300,000 for calf, cow and bull. However, they were selling average looking and size animal in the range of Rs75,000 to 100,000. Some big farm owners brought some heavy size bull and calf.

They were asking some astonishing rates for their cattle ranging between Rs200,000 to 300,000 and in one case one seller was selling a pair of bull with asking price of Rs1.5 million.

The price of different species of animals in main cattle and makeshift cattle markets of the city was ranging between, goats between Rs30,000 to Rs65,000 per animal, sheep Rs25,000 and Rs50,000 per animal, calf, cows Rs65,000 to Rs300,000, camel at Rs125,000 to 250,000 depending on the weight and appearance of the animal. It is estimated that almost 400,000 animals are likely to be slaughtered in the provincial metropolis during three days of Eidul Azha with increasing trend in the sharing sacrifice (Ijtimai Qurbani).

Since the price of sacrificial animals was on the rise so the middle income group who wanted to perform the Sunnah-e-Ibrahimi was contributing to the Ijtimai Qurbani, said Amin, an organiser of Ijtimai Qurbani in Sadar, Lahore. He said that a wing of Jamaat-e-Islami was organising Ijtimai Qurbani since ages and now the trend is increasing mainly due to surging inflation and increasing prices of sacrificial animals.

Sohaib, another organiser of Ijtimai Qurbani said their organisation started it some couple of years ago with eight animals which increased to 30 this year as compared to last year 23. ‘We stopped further booking for Ijtimai Qurbani as the organisation was not making any wrong promises so stop booking as everyone wanted to slaughter animals on the first day of Eid which was impossible’, he added. Amin said that they visited the cattle markets many times for last couple of days in order to purchase cattle at affordable rates to ensure the Ijtimai Qurbani within the cost of each share. However, he pointed out that cattle vendor were demanding higher rates even for an average size animal.