Daily Times

Eid-al-Adha brings an influx of cattle to major metropolitan areas every year. Around two weeks before the Eid religious festival in rural areas, people bring their livestock to the metropolis to sell. All of these aspects influence the price of the sacrificed animal, and because these animals are considered a bona fide status symbol they can fetch exorbitant sums.

Eid’s cattle market is an interesting study in economics. More than 900 acres of land make up Karachi’s biggest animal market, which is home to around 500,000 animals. This market is nearly eight times the size of Vatican City, the world’s smallest country by land area.

During Eid ul-Adha normally, residential areas, particularly apartment complexes, frequently take on the appearance of a bustling livestock market as people bring their newly acquired animals outdoors to bundle them. However, the circumstance at this moment is a little bit changed.

But during the course of the last few years, this type of economic activity has experienced a significant decline. This year, since it has been pouring cats and dogs in Karachi for the past few days, there have been less animals available for sacrifice as a result of the extremely high pricing. Individuals living in four flats used to be seen roping four different animals, but now only one animal can be seen being sacrificed. This is because four to seven people can engage in the sacrifice of one animal in groups (collective), and the expense is reduced as a result to fulfil religious responsibility.

The primary reason for this is that the widespread economic slowdown is anticipated to have an influence on people’s spending, particularly on items that are still widely seen as items of discretionary spending by many customers. When you add the reality that comes with huge unemployment after the coronavirus pandemic, you get conditions that are even worse. In conjunction with this, leather is naturally an example of a market that has been impacted.

“This year, my wage is the same as last year, but the cost of everything from gas to milk to meat to traveling has more than quadrupled, and now I discovered that an ordinary animal costs as much as four months’ salary,” said Shakir Hussain, who was in the cattle market with his family. He said, “This is my fourth visit to the bazaar, and I still can’t buy animals, it’s simply an excuse for the children to have fun.”

“In more recent times, when goats and sheep were within people’s financial reach, they chose those animals to sacrifice rather than smaller animals, now they are obliged to sacrifice big animals as they can do that in groups and share the cost with other people,” ” Salman Sadiq, a resident of Gulshan-e-Iqbal, commented.

This year, fewer purchases were made in other markets as well, and malls and markets were not as packed as they typically are. People explained this away by saying it was caused by growing prices and decreasing purchasing power.