Beef market regaining sales
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
FE Report
The beef market is regaining its volume of sales slowly after the anthrax scare made a huge damage to this sector, traders said.
The beef traders said customers are still sceptical about beef consumption but they have been buying more beef in recent days.
"Restaurants have been buying more beef in recent weeks than retail consumers," Badal, a meat trader of Karwan Bazar said Tuesday.
"Before anthrax outbreak we used to slaughter 20 animals here which came down to 2 animals last month," he said adding "Now the number is hovering around 5 to 7 animals per day."
Badal also informed that he used to sell about 250 kilograms of beef per day before anthrax outbreak. Now he sells around 60 kilograms of beef, thanks to restaurants' increasing consumption.
However, retail customers depend more on superstores for anthrax-free beef as they are buying more meat from these shops. "Before the anthrax outbreak, we used to sell 60 to 70 kilograms of meat. But now we are selling 20 kilograms of meat everyday," said Imran, a salesman of Swapna Superstore.
Customers switched to poultry to replace beef consumption and thus broiler selling increased significantly. However, with the rise in beef consumption, broiler sale is showing a slightly downward trend.
An anthrax red alert was imposed on September 5 last in the wake of the outbreak of the disease in some northern and north-western districts affecting both cattle and people. The red alert was however withdrawn on October 8 last following improvement of the situation.
It is estimated that the country incurred a total loss of Tk 32 billion due to anthrax outbreak.
The beef market is regaining its volume of sales slowly after the anthrax scare made a huge damage to this sector, traders said.
The beef traders said customers are still sceptical about beef consumption but they have been buying more beef in recent days.
"Restaurants have been buying more beef in recent weeks than retail consumers," Badal, a meat trader of Karwan Bazar said Tuesday.
"Before anthrax outbreak we used to slaughter 20 animals here which came down to 2 animals last month," he said adding "Now the number is hovering around 5 to 7 animals per day."
Badal also informed that he used to sell about 250 kilograms of beef per day before anthrax outbreak. Now he sells around 60 kilograms of beef, thanks to restaurants' increasing consumption.
However, retail customers depend more on superstores for anthrax-free beef as they are buying more meat from these shops. "Before the anthrax outbreak, we used to sell 60 to 70 kilograms of meat. But now we are selling 20 kilograms of meat everyday," said Imran, a salesman of Swapna Superstore.
Customers switched to poultry to replace beef consumption and thus broiler selling increased significantly. However, with the rise in beef consumption, broiler sale is showing a slightly downward trend.
An anthrax red alert was imposed on September 5 last in the wake of the outbreak of the disease in some northern and north-western districts affecting both cattle and people. The red alert was however withdrawn on October 8 last following improvement of the situation.
It is estimated that the country incurred a total loss of Tk 32 billion due to anthrax outbreak.