Fall in mutton price fail to attract customers

A fall in price by around BD1 for mutton still apparently fails to attract customers, according to meat vendors and super markets officials.

Price of mutton, which had climbed to a high of BD3.500 after the government decided to restrict the meat subsidy only to Bahraini citizens, has now come down to around BD2.400 per kg early this week. However, this has not created much demand for the meat among customers.

“Before (the meat subsidy was removed), we used to sell 50 whole goats across four of our stores. This now has come down to 1 or 2,” said Bahrain Pride Trading Centre Manager (Training) Khurram Abbas.

Abbas, who also manages the Sanad branch of Bahrain Pride, said that the store managed to sell only 5 kg now. “That too is not bought by the individuals. The demand for 2 kg or 1 kg comes from nearby roadside eateries and restaurants.”

Pratheesh, store supervisor at Al Zaad Market in Al Buhair, East Riffa remarked: “Demand is almost nil in our store, compared to what we used to sell earlier.” Though he was reluctant to put a figure, he said that price fall still did not make any impact on sales.

The slump in meat purchase has mostly affected the expat meat vendors. Nisham, an expat meat vendor from Kerala, India, said he was worried about the future of his business. “There’s hardly any sale now. If this situation continues, I might have to close down.”

“The price has come down, but not many people are buying the meat,” he rued. He said that like in the Central Market in Manama, many mutton shops in Riffa market have also been shut.

“Many vendors have gone back home. Those who have not, find it difficult to operate with such low sales,” he revealed.

KP Basheer, who runs a vegetable shop in Buhair, said he had the provision to run a meat section along with his shop. “But after the price rocketed, there are few takers for the business. I have the shop ready. We have the CR too. But without an experienced person to run the shop, I am losing money.”

Nisham claimed that some of his regular customers had told him that unless the prices had gone back to the pre-October levels, they wouldn’t be buying any meat.

“Just before the subsidy was removed, we had roaring sales. Once that stock runs out, they will slowly return to the market. But still, I don’t think the sales will be as high as the subsidy days,” he explained.

“Price of Bahrain chicken has gone up too to BD1.400. There’s not much difference between Bahraini and Saudi chicken now,” he added.

Khurram, of Bahrain Pride, said that importing mutton from Pakistan was not much of solution. “Our landing price of Pakistani mutton is BD2.800. It will be unviable to sell it for a lower price,” he said, and added that customers were now picking up chicken (frozen or fresh).