Trader Bahar Ali brought two large bulls from Pabna to the temporary cattle market at the Sun Valley sand field next to Aftabnagar in Dhaka. He first asked Tk 16 lakh for the bigger one and Tk 15 lakh for the slightly smaller one.

By 4:30pm on Wednesday (27 May) he had sold the bigger bull for Tk 7 lakh. The smaller one was still unsold, and he said he would let it go for Tk 5.5 lakh.

The two Brahman bulls were brought to the Sun Valley field from Pabna on Saturday (23 May). From the first day curious crowds gathered around them: some took photographs on their phones, others stood listening to the price in astonishment. Many came to look at them over the past three days, and many walked away after hearing the price.

Bahar Ali said the two bulls were born to his own cows and that he had raised them with great care for about six years. Feeding one bull costs Tk 1,000 a day in the village. Besides farm feed they were given mostly natural fodder, and he used no harmful drugs, he said.

When he arrived at the market he asked Tk 16 lakh and Tk 15 lakh. With no buyer, on Tuesday (26 May) he cut the prices to Tk 11 lakh and Tk 10 lakh respectively, but still found no taker. On Wednesday he finally sold the bigger bull for Tk 7 lakh.

"The market is very bad this year. Not just big cattle, small and medium ones are selling very little too. A medium-sized animal that sold for Tk 1.8 lakh at the start is now being offered Tk 1.4 lakh by buyers," he said.

He said he had also brought several smaller cattle, most of which were still unsold. The biggest bull would yield about 25 maunds of meat and sold for Tk 7 lakh; the other would yield 22 to 23 maunds and he would sell it to anyone offering Tk 5.5 lakh.

Bahar Ali had earlier claimed that a buyer at the start offered Tk 15 lakh for the pair, which he refused because he did not like the price. Before coming to Dhaka, a trader in the village had offered Tk 16 lakh for the two, and he had not sold at that price either.

Asked why he was now selling cheaply, he said the market was very poor. Taking such big cattle back to the village would mean a bigger loss, large animals cannot be kept for long, and demand falls after the Eid sacrifice, so he was accepting the loss.

"I raised these two bulls with great hardship. I thought I would get a good price in Dhaka. Forget profit, now I am making a big loss. It is not just me; most traders who brought cattle to Dhaka this year are facing losses," he said.

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