Tunisia-Agricultural Union confirms availability of sacrifices and demands price not surpassing 24 dinars per kilogram

There has been considerable controversy recently, with the approach of Eid al-Adha, regarding the prices of this year’s Eid sacrifices. Various opinions agree that prices are very high, surpassing the purchasing power of a middle-income Tunisian family. Interpretations of the reasons for this unexpected high price vary. Some attribute it to the high cost of fodder and food, the cost of production, and the loss of a large portion of the herd. Others think it results from the Ministry of Commerce’s decision not to supply Eid sacrifices, as was customary in recent years, to adjust the market.

Speaking to Tunisie Numérique, member of the Central Council of the Tunisian Union of Agriculture and Fisheries, Bayram Hamadeh remarked today that the high prices are indeed due to the cost of production and the unprecedented rise in feed prices caused by successive years of drought. Hamadeh said that rough fodder prices vary between 25 and 40 dinars, in addition to the high price of concentrated feed.

Hamadeh confirmed that farmers are requesting a price varying between 23 and 24 dinars per kilogram of live meat, revealing that this price is currently accepted in the Tunisian market.

Concerning the decision not to supply quantities of Eid sacrifices, Hamadeh noted that this decision is sound and that Tunisia has enough “Eid sacrifices” today. He clarified that supply was never the appropriate solution but rather served specific lobbies. He commented that Tunisian families consume between 900,000 and one million heads of sheep every Eid al-Adha, and this number is available today, with more than 1.1 million heads.

Hamadeh advised Tunisian families not to go to intermediaries to purchase the Eid sacrifice but rather to buy directly from farmers. He stressed that the high prices being circulated on social media are due to these intermediaries exploiting the market and trying to make a financial profit.

He estimated that most of the prices today vary between 800 dinars and 1,300 dinars, meaning that a sacrifice weighing 44 or 45 kilograms of live meat, which produces about 25 kilograms of meat, would cost approximately 1,100 dinars. He denied that the price of a sheep (“Aloush”) reaches 2,000 dinars, except on very few and rare occasions.