The prices of sacrificial animals, especially of goats and sheep have increased significantly as the purchasing process was reaching its climax ahead of Eid-ul-Azha that celebrate today Sunday. As the second religious Muslim festival Eid-ul-Azha, a number of cattle makeshift market have been set up in different localities of Karachi.
According to the media reports more than 250,0000 sacrificial animals have so far been brought into the main cattle market of Karachi on the Super Highway. As many as 200,000 more animals are expected to arrive at the market in Eid Day.
The information to this effect was shared by the spokesperson for the media cell of the cattle market. He said the market had been bustling with customers and had a wide variety of animals, including bulls, heifers, camels, goats and sheep. He added that even remote areas within the premises of the market were now full of animals.
Muzaffar Hassan, the cattle market administrator, said animals had been continuously reaching the cattle market and their number would further increase in the coming days as animal traders were still in contact with the management of the market for bringing their animals to Karachi. The arrival of the animals at the market would continue till the day of Eidul Azha, he maintained.
It was worth mentioned here that during the last year 2021 Pakistanis sacrificed around nine million animals worth $2.5 billion on the Muslim festival of Eid Al-Adha, tanners and leather exporters have said, at least a one-billion-dollar increase from last year.
In country, the number of sacrificial animals has been on the rise since last year as people have been unable to go to Saudi Arabia to perform the Hajj pilgrimage due to coronavirus restrictions and have thus offered the ritual sacrifice in their home country.
“It is estimated that around 3-4 million cows were slaughtered last year,” he told” The rate of waste has also been higher this year, with data from the Lahore branch of PTA showing that Rs2 billion worth of hides and skins was wasted.
Eid Al-Adha contributes around 20-30 percent of raw material to Pakistan’s leather industry, which PLGME expects will cross the $1 billion mark this year. In the previous fiscal year 2020-21, the leather sector contributed $833 million to Pakistan’s overall exports of $25.3 billion.
