Hyderabad: Mutton prices hit the roof

Hyderabad: The fear of coronavirus has cast its shadow over the sale of meat in the twin cities. While chicken prices have hit a new low, the mutton prices are skyrocketing. In several parts of the city, mutton was sold at Rs 900 per kg on Sunday. On average, the prices vary from Rs 640 to Rs 700. In the past four months, the prices have gone up by Rs 50-70 per kg. The decrease in imports has reportedly led to a price hike.

With the rise in prices, there has been a huge decline in the number of people purchasing mutton. Sellers said that the average consumption has fallen with the hike in prices. Before the price was hiked, they were selling around 125-150 kg of mutton, whereas now they sell only around 80-90 kg per day. The sellers themselves are buying the meat for Rs. 600 per kg. A buyer who once used to purchase one kg of meat is now purchasing 500 grams, they said.

Md Mudeen, owner of Al Mansoor Meat Mart in Toli Chowki, said "There is a huge shortage of goats in the market. After the rumours of coronavirus, people have stopped consuming chicken and started eating mutton due to which there is a huge demand for mutton and less supply of goats. There were days when we used to sell around 150 kg in a day but after Sankranti, we are barely able to sell 100 kg of mutton."

Wasim Khan, owner of KGN mutton shop in Safilguda, said, "Before Sankranti I used to sell around 50 kg of mutton. But now, it has reduced to around 25 to 30 kg on the weekends and barely 12 kg on regular days. In order to increase the sales of the meat, I am forced to sell it at Rs 50 to Rs 100 less than the other retailers."