KARACHI, July 4: Beef sellers are charging Rs5-10 a kg more as they claim that prices of animals have gone up in the wholesale market because of their shortage.
Calf meat with bones is now selling at Rs80 a kg as compared to Rs75 a kg, and the same variety of boneless beef is available at Rs95 a kg as compared to Rs90 a kg.
Beef without bones is selling at Rs90 a kg as compared to Rs80 a kg.
According to the General Secretary of the Karachi Meat Merchants Welfare Association, Iqbal Qureshi, around 25 per cent of the city’s shops are selling mutton at Rs150 a kg, showing a rise of Rs10 a kg. The rest of the 5pc shops are charging Rs140 kg as compared to Rs130 a kg.
The wholesale price of beef now ranges between Rs2,700-2,800 per 40 kg as compared to Rs2,200-2,300 per 40kg. An ordinary cow is available at Rs9,000-10,000 as compared to Rs7,000-8,000.
The price of goat and lamb has also shot up by at least Rs200 apiece as the 25 supply of goats from Thar area has been suspended after rains.
Thar supplies 25pc of goats to the city. One goat is available at Rs2,000 as compared to Rs1,800.
The local market has seen a big shortage of animals since December-January this year as arrival of smuggled animals from India stopped after December last year.
Mr Qureshi said animals smuggled from India met around 40-50 per cent of the city’s demand for meat.
Meat prices had gone up by Rs 10-20 a kg in January when tension at the border had increased.
He said as many as 8,000-8,500 goats were being killed daily in Karachi as compared to 10,000 earlier. 35,00 cows were being killed daily, calves made up 50pc of this.
Meat and animals are also exported to the Middle East and Gulf countries. Meat traders urged the government to suspend the export till such time as the shortage of animals existed.
Mr Qureshi said meat traders of Balochistan were in the market in a big way because of high demand from Afghan refugees. He said even oxen are now in high demand in Balochistan. An ox was now priced at Rs18,000 as compared to Rs12,000 previously.
Meat sellers say livestock population in Pakistan was insufficient to meet the country’s needs, but no measures had been taken to increase production.
They claimed that the government figures on livestock populations were fictitious and based on assumptions.
Goat production in the past 2-3 years has been estimated between 47 and 49 million and buffalo production has been hovering between 22 and 23 million. Cattle production has been estimated at 22 million.
The shortage of animals in the local market might create problems for the leather industry due to short supply of hides and skins, a leather exporter said, adding the outgoing fiscal year did not prove a good year as far as leather and leather garments exports were concerned.
Pakistan’s leather exports in July-May 2001-202 rose by four per cent to $213 million from $205 million in the same period of 2000-2001.
Leather garments exports suffered a decline of 11.21pc in value to $337 million in July-May 2001-2002 as compared to $380 million in the corresponding period of 2000-2001.
Leather exporters are facing a tough time after 9/11 due to a drastic fall in orders from US and European buyers.
