With Eid al-Adha approaching, Saudi Arabia’s largest sheep markets are swarmed with buyers and sellers settling bargains. Sheep prices have soared up to $550 with speculations that they could reach $800, two days before the forthcoming Muslim feast.
The boycott of poultry products after the hike in its prices, and the high prices of sheep’s fodder are some of many reasons that pushed the sheep dealers to seek such high prices, while the best quality of sheep used to be sold for $400.Buyers say they’ve noticed a hike in prices in the past for the top quality sheep.ven with the presence of highly demanded sheep species such as al-Nuaimy and Najdi , the dealers could not justify the hike in prices, which makes buyers lose their confidence in both the dealers and the market as a whole.
“I see that the price of sheep is increasing. As for the reason, it might be because of the hike in the price of poultry, everything is becoming more expensive. The prices are higher,” said a buyer.“You can purchase one sheep for $490 (SR1,800) while you find the same, in another place for $517 (SR1,900). So what’s the reason behind this difference in prices? There is a reason. This one says that it has better hair, that one says that he uses specific fodder. This is brought from the desert, but that is brought from another place. There should be a monitoring body or a scale to determine the prices,” said a buyer.
The patience of the buyer towards the hike in prices and uncontrolled sales, without any control from the concerned authorities, will add to the excuses of the key dealers and highly reduce the demand. – Alarabiya
