PANAJI
A number of people in beef trade confirmed this saying vehicles carrying cattle had arrived at GMC earlier in the day.
Last week, the movement of cattle from Karnataka to Goa was affected due to confusion arising out of central government’s notification, which had prohibited the sale of cattle for slaughter through animal markets.
It now appears that the confusion has faded, as the movement of cattle has been restored.
Manna Bepari, president of Qureshi Meat Traders Association of Goa, said, “5 vehicles carrying 30 cattle from Karnataka reached GMC on June 5. Very soon, more traders in Goa will be getting cattle from Karnataka. It is unlikely that there will be any shortage of beef in Goa”.
A number of traders in Panaji market also confirmed that the supply of beef has improved. Husain, a beef trader, said, “The situation has clearly improved now, as cattle arrived at GMC from Karnataka on June 4. We don’t expect any shortage at all.”
In Panaji, the price of beef hovered around Rs 200 to Rs 260, which is pretty much the average price witnessed throughout the year. This shows that the price of beef didn’t significantly increase despite recent concerns about affected supply from the state of Karnataka.
Overall, beef supply has improved, but few supermarkets were still struggling to get adequate supply. The much loved beef undercut was tough to find in supermarkets in and around Panaji.
In fact, a prominent supermarket in Panaji had only one cut of beef in stock, which it was selling for around Rs 350/kg. Another supermarket had 4-5 cuts of beef, but the staff informed that they didn’t have adequate beef to meet the
demand.
Typically, supermarkets get supply of beef twice a week. The expectations were that the supply will smoothen as the week progresses. In the meanwhile, the price of mutton and chicken has marginally increased because beef supply was affected.
A trader from Panaji said, “Due to shortage of beef in the last few days, the price of mutton has moved up from Rs 460/kg to Rs 500/kg. Similarly, the price of chicken has jumped from Rs 140 to Rs 150 a kg.”
