Skyrocketing camel prices keep buyers at bay
Camels brought from Thar Desert are tied to a rope at their enclosure at Karachi’s cattle market on Super Highway. PHOTO: NNI
A separate and quite unique camel market was established in Nasirpur area of Peshawar district in addition to other markets where cows, water buffalos, sheep and goats are sold as sacrificial animals.
However, compared to the last year, the prices of camels are much higher, going up by at least Rs1 lakh for a camel forcing the potential buyers away.
In the camel market, a large number of camels are brought for sale from remote districts of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa including DI Khan, Karak, Nowshera and Mardan (Rustum) and from Balochistan as well.
Long queues of camels along the roadsides could be seen as traders sweltering in the heat patiently await customers.
While talking to The Express Tribune traders said that the market is not very good for camels this year and they have only managed to sell just 10 camels so far, clearly indicating the market trend as the inflation-hit local residents are not taking interest in dromedary compared to the previous years.
“Those who are interested in sacrificing camels are coming to the market for purchase, but due to the sky high prices, they are not buying,” said a trader.
In the market, big camels are being sold for Rs500,000 to Rs700,000 and small camels for Rs250,000 to Rs300,000. The camel traders say that they have incurred huge expenses for bringing these animals from far away, as just the transportation cost stands at Rs100,000 per animal and an additional Rs2,000 are being spent on each one per day.
The traders also complained that the government has not allocated any suitable space for the camels despite extremely hot weather.
They said that they are also facing difficulties in obtaining drinking water and feed for their animals.
On the other hand potential buyers have also complaining that buying camels has become difficult due to the higher prices this year.
Apart from this, there are additional expenses for transporting the camel to the house or to the keeping place after their purchase as they cannot be kept inside the houses, so they have to pay for the place to keep them.
Furthermore traders said that in the absence of proper separate space for the camel market, a temporary market has been established by the roadside.
Being a little outside the city, there is a pile of dirt on the side of the GT, for which there is no arrangement for cleaning. Traders also have to guard their animals at night as theft of sacrificial animals is common place.