AMMAN — With the drop
in demand for sheep for Eid Al-Adha, stakeholders, butcher shop owners and
livestock merchants have expressed different opinions on the market.
اضافة اعلان
Yasar Al-Khaitan,
executive director for health and trade supervision at the Greater Amman
Municipality, said in a phone interview with Jordan News that the sheep
market suffered a decline of about 10 percent this year, in comparison to prior
years.
The demand for sheep
varied from one site to another, as did supply and demand, Khaitan said.
“Some selling sites
were barely affected this year,” he added.
“The demand was
relatively stronger in previous years, while it dropped by 10 to 20 percent
this eid,” Yousef Abu Sbaa, who owns Al-Afieh butcher shop and is a livestock
merchant, told Jordan News over the phone.
“Some areas witnessed
more demand for sheep than others,” explained Abu Sbaa, “with shops and marketplaces
in Western Amman selling more than those located in East Amman.”
Abu Sbaa said that the
main reason for the weak demand was a spike in sheep prices, which he
attributed to an increase sheep import costs as well as in workers’ wages and
the cost of feed. He added that the cost of imports increased by JD0.8 to JD1
per kilo.
According to the
merchant, the price for a sack of fodder also rose by JD5 this year.
“Another cause for the
lower demand is that people are suffering difficult economic conditions,” Abu
Sbaa said, “many were desirously longing to buy, but after knowing that a
Romanian sheep costs between JD180 and JD210, they changed their minds.”
“The fact that eid
coincided with the middle of the month, when people have already spent almost
all of their monthly incomes, has badly affected the market,” the merchant
added.
“Our primary goal was not to make profit per-se
as much as it was to ensure the delivery of sheep to the clients,” he said.
However on the other
hand, an owner of a butcher shop in Amman, who spoke to Jordan News on
the condition of anonymity, said that the demand this year was not lower than
last year. He added that he actually made more this year.
“This eid, I sold more
than I ever had in the past few years. I do not know about the other shops,” he
said.
The butcher said that
last year he sold only 150 sheep but this year he sold 220 sheep.
“It is true that livestock
prices witnessed an increase this year, but it was a slight one. The price of a
45kg Romanian sheep was JD180 last year compared to JD200 this year,” he
explained.
During Eid Al-Adha,
sacrificing sheep, cows, camels, or goats is an Islamic ritual. This act of
worship comes from the story of Prophet Abraham and his son Ismael.
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