High supply of cattle in Ctg markets

CHITTAGONG, Oct 4: Cattle markets in the port city witnessed a high supply of sacrificial animals as all eight markets were teeming with sellers and buyers Saturday.
There is large supply of animals coming from different parts of the country. Still the sellers are charging high prices, some buyers at the Bibirhat Market said today.
The two major permanent cattle markets are Sagorika and Bibirhat. Other six temporary markets in the city are Karnaphuli Garur Bazar in Nur Nagar Housing area, Steel Mill Bazar, Patenga City Corporation High School ground, Saltgola Rail Crossing, Komol Mohazan Hat and Postarpar School ground.
"We thought that adequate supply of animals in Bibirhat would push down the prices a little. But traders said the sale would peak Sunday, so they are not ready to go for much bargain," said Abdul Ali, a buyer from the nearby Shulak Bahar area.
He, however, said there is ample opportunity on the part of the buyers to buy bulls of their choice.
Most buyers said they would buy cattle today without waiting for the last day (tomorrow).
The local farm owners and marginal farmers said they had incurred huge losses in the past few years. Many have lost interest in rearing local bulls. Taking advantage of this, many traders from the northern districts of the country have brought a large number of sacrificial animals from India. These include both Indian and Nepalese bulls, they said.
Scores of trucks laden with cattle entered the city's Sagorika and Bibirhat cattle markets Saturday morning.
Commuters and home-bound people are also suffering a lot for rush of cattle and cattle-laden trucks at Bibirhat which is part of Chittagong-Khagrachhari and Chittagong-Rangamati highways in the city.
Sellers have said the demand for local varieties of bulls is higher than those from India and Nepal. A good number of sacrificial animals mainly from India and Nepal have entered the markets in Chittagong while arrival of animals from Myanmar is low this year.
Medium-sized red bulls attract buyers most, the traders said adding that such an animal sells at Tk 65,000 to 70,000 but the ones which are double the size and are of Indian variety sell at around Tk 90,000 or 0.1 million.

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