The sacrificial animal markets for Eid-ul-Azha have formally opened across the country, but a kind of slump has appeared from the start. Because of high inflation, the economic downturn and higher fodder prices, the supply of animals at the markets is lower this year and sellers' asking prices somewhat higher. Those involved fear that, continuing the trend of recent years, the number of animals sacrificed will fall again.

According to the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), the number of animals sacrificed in the country has been falling for several years. Last year (2025), 9.1 million animals were sacrificed at Eid-ul-Azha, 1.3 million fewer than the year before (2024), when 10.4 million animals were sacrificed across the country.

Last year more than 3.31 million sacrificial animals went unsold. This year the country has 12.333 million animals fit for sacrifice, against an initial DLS estimate of demand at 10.1 million.

Those involved, however, think sacrifices this year may be even fewer than last year, possibly below 9.1 million.

Analysts say economic weakness, a business slowdown, rising poverty, high inflation and falling purchasing power could directly hit this year's sacrificial market. Also, with production costs rising, animal prices have climbed fast in recent years and are now beyond the reach of low- and lower-middle-income people.

As the cost of sacrifice has risen quickly, shared sacrifice has become more common: people who used to sacrifice an animal on their own now join with others to share one. The recent political situation has also had some adverse effect on the market.

Agricultural economist Jahangir Alam Khan, a former director general of the Bangladesh Livestock Research Institute, said animal prices had risen this year because farmers' various costs had gone up, while high inflation had reduced ordinary people's purchasing power. They are struggling to meet daily expenses, he said.

Apart from government officials and employees and senior staff at good private firms, even businesspeople are facing a slowdown, he said. As a result, those who used to sacrifice an animal alone are now sharing; those who gave small cows are giving goats; and those who managed with great difficulty cannot do so this year.

Ripon Kumar Mondal, a professor of agricultural economics at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, said the economic weakness after Covid had not yet passed, and animal prices had risen quickly in the meantime. Many in the middle class cannot afford to spend Tk 1 lakh or more on a cow, so they are buying goats or, with no other option, not sacrificing at all. Financial weakness is now a major reason for the fall in sacrifices, he said.

With more animals available than demand, the DLS estimates 2.2 million animals may go unsold this year, though those involved say the number could be higher.

Asked whether farmers would face a serious capital shortfall, DLS Deputy Director (Farms) Md Shariful Haque said some animals are left over every year, but since there is demand for meat all year round, there is no fear of big losses for farmers.

Unsold animals are sold at the next year's sacrifice, or can be sold at any time of the year. With meat prices high, animals fetch good prices in normal times too, he said.

According to the data, half of all cattle slaughtered in the country each year are slaughtered at Eid-ul-Azha, and the other half are supplied through the year for social events, weddings and everyday meat shops.

But most marginal farmers say they fear heavy losses if they cannot sell at Eid. Animals prepared for the sacrifice, if sold in normal times to butchers or by ordinary meat weight, do not recover even the minimum cost of production and labour. Instead, nearly all the cost of rearing them after Eid becomes a loss.

Because sacrifices are falling, many permanently established farms raising animals for the Eid sacrifice across the country close every year under the burden of these losses.

Rubel Hossain, a farmer from Akkelpur in Joypurhat, said animals returning unsold from the Eid market often fall ill from the strain, and their bodies break down. All the costs of feeding, medicine and care until they are sold are extra, he said.

At that very time, after Eid, the glut of unsold animals drives market prices down, making these cows a double blow for farmers.

Mohammad Iqbal Hossain, president of the Bangladesh Dairy and Fattening Farmers Association, said that although not all the cows on a farm are taken to market, the reality is that a 5-6 maund cow that goes unsold at Eid later loses 50 to 100 kg in weight, because these cows are prepared specifically for the sacrifice. Farmers then suffer heavy losses.

He said the costs of fodder, medicine and running a farm had risen abnormally over the past few years, and the government needs to give the matter importance.

But he believes the fear of lower-than-expected sales is not yet final. Eid trading begins two days before, and all the calculations could still be turned upside down then, he said.

Meanwhile, trading has begun at Dhaka's cattle markets. Although sales have not been as hoped, cow prices are higher this year, and buyers have shown some dissatisfaction over prices from the outset. Most of those coming to the markets are looking around and leaving.

Farmers and sellers say that, as in recent years, demand is highest for small and medium cows, and these make up most of the animals at the markets. Sellers are asking more than Tk 1.5 lakh for cows expected to yield four to four and a half maunds of meat.

Sellers claim they bought small and medium cows from farmers in remote areas for Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000 more than last year, and paid up to Tk 1 lakh more for big cows.

Abdul Bari, a buyer at the capital's Shahjahanpur market, said the market felt very expensive from the start this year. "A cow priced at Tk 1.7 lakh seems right to me at Tk 1.4 lakh," he said. In other words, sellers are asking Tk 20,000 to Tk 40,000 more for each cow.

Source: Jagonews24. First published in Bengali on The Agro News.