With Eid Al-Adha only two days away, the streets of Egypt's cities have turned into makeshift yards for sheep with families scrambling to find a reasonably priced animal to sacrifice. Religious tradition, in commemoration of the Prophet Ibrahim, stipulates that financially capable Muslims must sacrifice an animal such as a sheep, cow, goat or camel on the Eid and give two-thirds of its meat to the needy as well as friends and family. The increased demand for such animals ahead of the feast is often a cause of escalating prices, and this year prices rose by around 20 per cent because of the increasing cost of animal feed, according to Haitham Mohamed of the Butchers Division of the Federation of Commerce. A kilogram of slaughtered meat now costs between LE80 and LE110. Every year, attempts are made to moderate prices, and the government has imported frozen meat as well as live animals. The Ministry of Agriculture was responsible for importing the meat which was then distributed by the Ministry of Supply and Internal Trade for about LE45 per kg, Adel Abbas, former head of the veterinary department at the Ministry of agriculture said. Abbas added that a kilogram of mutton costs between LE28 and LE35. Veal costs LE55 to LE66 a kg. Egypt produces between 70 to 75 per cent of its consumption needs of meat a year, he said, or about eight million animals. Egypt imports meat from countries including Australia, Brazil, India, Sudan and Somalia. However, the cost of imported frozen meat is up 20 to 25 per cent this year due to demand created by Russia which has been moving into the Brazilian and Indian markets to secure its needs following western sanctions imposed on the back of the crisis in Ukraine. “We should depend on African countries to cover our needs,” Abbas said, who added that meat sourced in Africa could contribute to cutting prices in Egypt by 30 to 40 per cent due to the proximity of the exporting countries and the lower prices. But there has been reluctance to import more African meat because of fears it could spread infectious diseases among domestic animals. Abbas said the government should build slaughterhouses in African countries under ministry supervision, which would prevent the spread of any animal diseases. Military farms produce around 25 per cent of animals raised for meat production, said Abbas, with Mohamed adding that military outlets were selling a kilogram of meat for around LE50. The United Arab Emirates had also given Egypt 100,000 head of livestock this year, he said, which would be sold through army outlets. Meat prices are expected to decline after the feast because families stock slaughtered meat in their freezers. “For at least a month after the feast, prices will cool down,” Abbas said. Mohamed expected some 1.5 million animals to be slaughtered this year. “All Egyptians will eat meat next week. No one will be left out,” he concluded.
