LAHORE, April 18: Butchers have declared the revised retail prices fixed by the City District Government unrealistic and started selling meat of sheep instead of goats at the rates fixed for mutton.

A slaughterhouse official said 90 per cent of the butchers were slaughtering sheep instead of goats because these were available at significantly lower prices due to comparatively inferior quality of the meat. The butchers could earn a handsome profit by selling the meat of sheep at Rs150 per kg.

Representatives of the butchers have informed the CDG officials that it is not possible for them to sell mutton at Rs150 per kg and beef at Rs60 per kg because traders have raised the prices of animals following the increase in mutton retail price recently. It is not possible to sell mutton below Rs200 per kg and beef below Rs80 as a result.

The have further informed the CDG that a control over meat retail price is not possible as long as the exporters are allowed to purchase animals and meat from the local market instead of establishing their farms for the purpose. Mutton cannot be sold at Rs150 per kg in retail when the exporters are ready to pay a higher price for it in the wholesale market.

They have pointed out that mutton and beef prices had remained stable for more than a decade after the government imposed a ban on their exports. The prices had started going up after the present government lifted the ban some three years ago, and allowed the exporters to procure supplies from the local market instead of raising their own livestock for the purpose.

Meanwhile, the CDG is continuing its ceremonial campaign of lodging FIRs against the butchers for overcharging. Cases are being got registered against a number of butchers daily, but nothing is known about hundreds of FIRs lodged against the shopkeepers for selling essential commodities at exorbitant rates since Ramazan last year.