Trucks carrying sacrificial animals kept arriving at Dhaka's Gabtoli market. After heavy rain in the morning, few buyers turned up. Traders and farmers said prices had crashed because of the lack of buyers and continuous rain, while buyers were relieved that prices had fallen somewhat in a day.

A visit to the market between noon and 1.45pm on Wednesday 27 May found plenty of cattle. Even so, hundreds of trucks and trawlers were waiting in long queues to unload more. This has hit prices, which have "fallen" considerably.

Sirajuddin bought a small cow at Gabtoli that afternoon. "I bought this cow for Tk 58,000," he told Jago News. "It will give one and a half to two maunds of meat. At other times you could not get this cow for under a lakh."

Seeing the overall situation, traders said they did not expect buyers to increase that night. Not all the cattle at the market would be sold, and many would have to return home with unsold animals at a loss.

Raju Ahmed, a trader from Santhia in Pabna, said: "Seven months ago I bought a cow for Tk 1.6 lakh and raised it for the sacrifice. At this market, they are offering Tk 1.5 lakh for it. Before, I saw losses on big cows; this time even medium cows are selling poorly."

Sayeed Khan came from Manikganj the night before with four small and medium red cows and had not sold a single one. Pointing to a red local cow, he told Jago News: "This cow will give six maunds of meat. There are no buyers, and those who come are offering Tk 1.3 lakh to Tk 1.5 lakh. Yet I bought it four months ago for Tk 1.63 lakh. If I sell it for Tk 2 lakh, I will keep about Tk 10,000."

"If I don't get a small profit, I will take the cows back," Sayeed Khan added. "Coming here and going back will be a total loss."

Minhaj, a trader, brought nine cows from Goalanda in Rajbari and had not sold one from midday the previous day until then. He said his cows weighed seven to eight maunds, but buyers were offering less than Tk 2 lakh.

"The market is very bad this time," Minhaj told Jago News. "Buyers are not even offering the price of the meat (the value of the meat the animal will yield). If they don't sell tonight, I will have to take them back."

Another seller said regretfully: "The market was good yesterday. I sold one cow for Tk 1.85 lakh, and the others were fetching good prices. But around 10pm buyers suddenly dropped off and prices fell. Now, in the rain, there are no buyers at all. A cow that was offered Tk 1.7 lakh yesterday is being offered Tk 1.1 lakh today. They are offering Tk 50,000 to Tk 60,000 less per cow. Buyers don't even want to pay the price of the meat. There are more cows than buyers, and the market has fallen."

Al-Amin, a buyer from Kazipara, said: "I came to the market around 7am. There are enough cows, but traders are not easily coming down on price. Still, compared with the last few days, small and medium cows seem much cheaper today."

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