Eid-ul-Azha, the Eid of sacrifice, is knocking at the door, and as in every year the Gabtoli cattle market in the capital has come alive. People who spent the past few days visiting the market to look at animals and check prices have now moved on to buying, and devout Muslims were seen spending all they could afford on sacrificial animals.

Traders, for their part, are letting their cattle go in the final days, even at limited profit. The Gabtoli market is busy with buyers and sellers of cattle and goats.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, 27 June, crowds of buyers poured into the market late in the day. The haggling and bustle of buyers and sellers gave the market a festive feel.

As in other years, a large number of cattle and goats have come to Gabtoli, and once again medium-sized cattle are in the greatest demand. What troubles most buyers is the high price. Some, to avoid the risk of buying at the last minute, are paying a little more to take home an animal they like.

Traders who brought animals to the market say the price of feed has risen sharply and they are spending more on medicine for various cattle and goat diseases. With all the costs of rearing taken into account, they say they will not make much profit this year.

Haji Abdul Hanif Mia came from Pallabi to buy a cow. He told Jagonews that there are countless animals in the market, but prices are higher this time, so buyers cannot get good-quality cattle within their budgets. "A cow that should cost Tk 80,000 is being offered at Tk 1 lakh 20 thousand. Prices are much higher than last Eid-ul-Azha. Even paying Tk 40,000 more than last time, I could not buy a cow of the same size," he said.

Cattle traders and household farmers reject such complaints. They say their costs have risen a great deal because of the higher price of cattle feed, and transport costs for bringing cattle to Dhaka from different parts of the country have also gone up. In comparison, they say, cattle prices have not risen much, and they do not expect the profit they had hoped for this year.

Mowlud Bepari of Manikganj brought 55 medium-sized cattle to Gabtoli, of which 21 have been sold. He said he sold each for Tk 8,000 to Tk 10,000 less than he had expected.

"I hired a truck to bring the cattle to Gabtoli, but Dhaka buyers are not offering a price worth selling at. Only traders and household farmers know how much the cost of rearing animals has gone up. I hope I can sell all the sacrificial cattle well and go home," Mowlud Bepari told Jagonews.

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