Livestock prices drop by 30%

RIYADH — In light of low demand by consumers and abundant supply of domestic and imported products, livestock markets witnessed during the current period a significant recession in the buying and selling business causing a decline in the prices between 20 to 30 percent, according to a report in Al-Eqtisadiah. A number of cattle traders emphasized that the weakness of purchasing power on all livestock species impacted sales in a number of markets in the Kingdom. Also, this caused prices to decline to more than SR200 between local and imported livestock. Hamid Al-Jadani, livestock dealer, said: “The demand has fallen sharply, with live market recession that began after the end of the pilgrimage season, where demand was low compared to last year.” He explained that the prices declined a lot, which led to a recession in prices between 20 to 30 percent or SR200. Al-Jadani noted that Somali livestock prices dropped from SR400 to SR320, Alsoakny from SR650 to SR450, local livestock from SR1,400 to SR1,100 and other species that were sold at thousand riyals fell to SR700. He stressed that the camel prices fell from SR2,800 to SR2,100 pointing out that the available quantities of livestock cover the need of the market. But he predicted that prices and demand would continue to fluctuate in the next two months. He pointed out that the desire for purchasing livestock differed from previous years, where demand is concentrated on local livestock despite the big difference in price. However, livestock imported from the East African species finally saw a slight increase as a result of consumer demand due to competitive pricing and quality. Turki Al-Qurashi, dealer of livestock, added that “The purchasing power in the markets is affected by the seasons, which responds to demand. But the last pilgrimage season disappointed traders with decline in demand compared to the year before.” He said that prices over the past year rose by SR200 but they fell during this period, where the Barbary price from Somalia rose, Alsoakny from Sudan reached SR200, and Somali cattle was SR400 but currently fell between SR320 to SR330. Ahmed Bahfez, livestock dealer, said: “The sheep prices fell rapidly in a few months which is expected, where prices were between SR400 to SR1,400 whereas at the moment prices fell between SR1,100 to SR350.” He explained that the decline in prices in the natural result of declining demand, and the weak purchasing power.