By A Staff Reporter

Kathmandu, June 12: Mutton price which had skyrocketed during lockdown has started falling in the Kathmandu Valley, thanks to the improved supply of live goats. The price of mutton has dropped to Rs 1,300 to Rs 1,400 per kilogram at present while it had soared to Rs 2,000 per kilogram a few weeks ago due to lockdown, said Deepak Thapa, president of Livestock Traders.
The live goat traders hiked the price of goat haphazardly cashing in on the lockdown, he said. But now improvement in the supply of goats from various parts of the country has resulted in the reduction of the price of both goats and meat.
At present, around 600-700 live goats are entering Kathmandu on a daily basis. The demand for meat has also dropped in the Kathmandu Valley. However, the local people consume meat by sharing the price of live goats they buy themselves during the lockdown.
The goats are arriving in Kathmandu from various parts of the country, including Dang, Salyan, Surkhet and Udayapur, among others.
The Indian goats are being supplied to the Valley in the name of local as Indian suppliers supply their goats to the nearest border even in lockdown, and they are supplied to Kathmandu as local ones.
The tendency of the consumers to purchase live goats themselves triggered high price of goats in the valley, as they were ready to pay any amount to a live goat. Again people stopped eating meat as the lockdown prolonged as their sources of income also shrank.
According to him, the government decision to allow the smooth supply of agro products, including livestock, during the lockdown has ended the monopoly market of a few traders.
“A few live goat suppliers have earned more than Rs 10 million during the lockdown as they sell live goat at up to Rs 1,000 per kilogram against the purchase price of around of Rs 500-550 per kilogram,” he told The Rising Nepal.
Before the lockdown, a live goat cost Rs 600-650 per kilogram in the Valley and the mutton cost around Rs 1,200 to Rs, 1,300 per kilogram.
He blamed that the government and the concerned bodies which are responsible to monitor the market were unable to stop the artificial price hike of live goats and take action against the meat shops charging high prices.
The government had fined a couple of meat shops inside the Valley selling meat at up to Rs 1,800 per kilogram. Thapa said that action against the meat shops by the government charging high price was not natural because they had to charge at least Rs 1,800 per kilogram to cover the cost of the live goats.
Dr Deepak Dhakal, information officer of the Livestock Development Services, said that internal supply of goats had been improving in the Kathmandu Valley lately as the department had been facilitating the traders for the supply of goats during the lockdown.
“It was difficult for the traders to transport goats from one place to another for one and a half months of the lockdown due to the obstruction by police. But now, their supply has resumed,” he said.
He, however, said that import of goats from India was nil at present due to the lockdown. The import of goats from India has been declining over the years after the provision to show health certificate of goats in the quarantine.