Sacrificial animals: Festivities dampened by soaring prices

While residents complain, vendors justify high rates .

ISLAMABAD:

With just two days to go before Eidul Azha, the cattle market in Sector I-11/4 is buzzing with the bellows of bulls and the bleats of goats and lambs. But the residents visiting the market appear to be window shoppers rather than serious buyers.

“The prices are too steep,” said Adnan Shah, an Islamabad resident who works for a telecommunication firm, after an animal seller decided not to budge on the asking rate for a bull. “I guess I am going to keep looking.”

A Rawalpindi resident advised potential buyers to spend the maximum amount of time to explore the market and then make a ‘reasonable’ deal. PHOTO: WAQAS NAEEM/EXPRESS

The price of a bull at the Islamabad market ranged between Rs50,000 and Rs200,000 with the average going rate at around Rs85,000. The prices of goats and lambs varied from Rs20,000 to Rs60,000, depending on the size and breed of the animals. The prices were more-or-less similar to those in 2012.

Most animal sellers appeared to quote a starting price of Rs120,000 for their bulls and that is where the buyers seemed to get “non-serious.”



“If I say Rs120,000, people reply with Rs60,000. If I ask for Rs90,000, they go down to Rs45,000,” said Muhammad Abbas, a cattle vendor from Multan who said he had brought 23 bulls with him. “There are some reasonable buyers, but most people seem to have decided they would go for half-price.”

“People think we are quoting double price, so they automatically start the bargain at half the price we quote,” said Muhammad Gulzar, an animal seller from Khanewal. “They don’t realise it costs a lot to rear these animals and transport them.”



Abbas and Gulzar said they had to pay Rs122,000 and Rs30,000 for a 36-by-46 feet canopy and an 18-by-18 feet one respectively. Animal sellers said they had to pay for water — Rs500-1,000 per drum — because the water provided by the contractor and the Capital Development Authority runs out in a matter of minutes.

But while most vendors complained of expenses and slow sales, Gulzar said he was “optimistic” because he has known from experience that “the Islamabad market always picks up in the last two days.”

Abbas said he had sold 12 animals and was hopeful he would not run in to loss by the time Eid was over.

Residents, on the other hand, were not satisfied with what they said were “high prices.”

“The purchasing power of the public is not the same as it used to be,” said Imran Ali, a medical store manager. “We do not have any option but to haggle with sellers to bring the prices down.”

Sohail Khalid, a Rawalpindi resident who works at a private bank, had some tips for buyers.



“You have to spend some time and explore the market,” Khalid said. “This is my fourth visit to the market in three days today.”

Khalid’s strategy seemed effective as he found a good bargain — he bought a bull for Rs52,000 which he thought was “reasonable”, keeping general inflation in mind.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 14^th, 2013.