Price drop disappoints cattle traders in Dhaka on eve of Eid

A number of traders are disappointed at not getting their asking price on the eve of Eid-ul-Azha after bringing sacrificial cattle to Dhaka from different parts of Bangladesh.

Traders from Kushtia, Chuadanga and Pabna said on Sunday the more they sold cattle, the higher the losses they counted, at least Tk 10,000 per cow.

Asked how business was going, a trader pointed to his own face and asked whether the reporter was able to see a smile.

Cattle trader ‘Monirul’ from Kushtia brought 20 cows to the Chairman Bari Khalpar market at Kamrangirchar.

“I am conceding losses even after bringing middle-sized cows, which are in high demand. No-one is even asking the price now,” he told bdnews24.com with a sigh.

He said he already counted Tk 100,000 “loss” after selling 12 of his herd. “The loss will total 200,000 if I sell the eight remaining cows at this rate,” Monirul said.

‘Shahabul’, another trader from the same district, said he sold 27 of his 29 cows, but suffered ‘losses’ of about Tk 150,000.

“I don’t know when the remaining two cows will be sold. There is no customer in the market,” he said.

Ekramul Bepari brought 22 cattle to a makeshift market in Bongshal from Kushtia but was able to sell 12.

The story was same for ‘Ziarul’, another cattle trader in the market from Pabna.

But Siddik Biswas from Faridpur said he profited from the sales of three of his four cows. He was, however, worried about the unsold one as “no-one was even asking the price”.

Customers also admitted that cow prices fell on the last day before Eid.

Nawab Hossain, a pharmacist at Mitford, said cows like the one he bought at Tk 106,000 on Saturday were being sold for Tk 70,000 to Tk 80,000.

Riaz Hossain Rabbi, a resident of Segunbagicha area, said he bought a cow for Tk 90,000 on Sunday and it weighed over 150kg, which means it should have been priced at least Tk 30,000 more.   

“Market is down,” he announced.