KARACHI: Several retailers have started charging Rs100 per kg extra on beef and mutton ahead of Ramazan thus exposing the lack of any official price-checking mechanism.

Those retailers who were selling veal (Bachia) meat with and without bones at Rs1,000 and Rs1,200 are demanding Rs1,100 and Rs1,300 per kg, respectively.

A customer in North Nazimabad N Block said he had paid Rs1,200 and Rs1,400 for veal meat with and without bones a few days back, up by Rs100 per kg.

In mutton, retailers are charging Rs2,000 per kg instead of Rs1,900.

Govt’s monitoring mechanisms remain ineffective

With the first price rise ahead of Ramazan, like past practice, meat prices usually witness multiple hikes ahead of Ramazan and Eidul Fitr and these price shocks to the consumers go unnoticed due to ineffective monitoring mechanisms and fixing of unrealistic prices.

Meat merchants continued to repeat the old rhetoric of rising meat exports as one of the main reasons for the bullish trend in the markets coupled with higher transportation and other charges.

The country’s meat and meat preparation exports rose to 70,458 tonnes ($288 million) in 7MFY24 from 50,235 tonnes ($227m) in the same period last year, showing a jump of 40pc in quantity and 27pc in value. However, exports fetched a low average per tonne (APT) price of $4,089 versus $4,516 in the same period last year.

Besides investing in expanding their existing meat chilling and freezing capacities, exporters are diversifying their shipments to new markets like China and South Africa for cooked beef meat and boneless frozen and heat-treated/cooked frozen beef for Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Central Independent Estates and Iraq.

The official rates issued by the Commissioner Karachi Office hold no significance whether the officials are occupied in any other duties or working without any extra responsibility.

The commissioner of Karachi had already increased the mutton rate to Rs1,700 per kg on Dec 5 from Rs1,540 fixed on Oct 3, 2023 without realising the market reality.

The official rate of veal with and without bones is fixed at Rs800 and Rs950 per kg but hardly any retailers sell them at these rates.

Meat Merchant Welfare Association President Haroon Qureishi told Dawn on Saturday that the retail rates had crawled up due to an increase in wholesale rates. “The government machinery always grills retailers but it does not take notice of the rise in wholesale rates,” he said.

He said meat exports have been thriving along with the smuggling of big animals to Afghanistan, while live animals are also being exported.

“There must be some mechanism for the export of meat and animals as local consumption comes first. Higher meat exports are causing a shortage in the market, he demanded.

He said the association had asked the commissioner to take notice of the lifting of animals by exporters from a single cattle market in Karachi, which was creating a demand and supply gap.

Mr Haroon said that the same thing is happening in onions as a sizable quantity is being exported for which consumers are paying heavy prices.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2024