Pakistanis Spending $3.5 Billion on Eid ul Azha in 2016
Pakistanis are spending about $3.5 billion on Eid ul Azha this year, according to analysts. This includes $2.8 billion worth of livestock and another $700 million on clothes, shoes, jewelry and various services. This amount represent a huge transfer of wealth from urban to rural population in the country.
Animal Sacrifice:
Eid al Adha commemorates the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his most beloved son Ismail (Ismael) when asked to do so by God. It follows Hajj, the annual pilgrimage of Mecca by Muslims from around the world each year. Muslims believe that God had angels remove Ismael from under the knife of blindfolded Abraham and had him replaced by a lamb.
Economic Activity:
The commemoration includes sacrifice of cows, goats, lambs and camels on Eid al Azha. This year, the media reports indicate that 4 million goats, 2.7 million cows, 800,000 lambs and 30,000 camels are being slaughtered in Pakistan on the occasion.
Using a conservative average price of $600 per cow, $200 per goat or lamb and $800 per camel, the total cost of animals adds up to $2.8 billion. Various services offered by, transporters, butchers and slaughter houses are in addition to this amount.
Apparel Purchases:
The Eid celebration includes buying and wearing new clothes and shoes as well as women's jewelry and other accessories that add up to another $700 million spent in Pakistan.
Charity:
Animal hides and significant amounts of meat are donated to various charities and the poor on Eid. Charities like Edhi Foundation are big beneficiaries of this largesse.
Rural Economy:
Rural residents who raise animals for sale on Eid bring in billions of dollars into the rural economy. These inflows help provide livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty.
Summary:
Eid al Azha this year represents a $3.5 billion worth of economic activity that is generating jobs and helping the charities and the rural residents of the country.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
Pakistan Among Top Meat Consuming Nations
Livestock Revolution in Pakistan
Pakistan's Rural Economy
Strong Eid Sales in Pakistan
Happy Eid-ul-Azha: Good Hygiene and Humane Treatment of Animals
Ho Kya Raha Hai - Impact of Eid-Ul-Adha on Our Economy - 12th September 2016
Eid al Adha commemorates the willingness of Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham) to sacrifice his most beloved son Ismail (Ismael) when asked to do so by God. It follows Hajj, the annual pilgrimage of Mecca by Muslims from around the world each year. Muslims believe that God had angels remove Ismael from under the knife of blindfolded Abraham and had him replaced by a lamb.
Economic Activity:
The commemoration includes sacrifice of cows, goats, lambs and camels on Eid al Azha. This year, the media reports indicate that 4 million goats, 2.7 million cows, 800,000 lambs and 30,000 camels are being slaughtered in Pakistan on the occasion.
Using a conservative average price of $600 per cow, $200 per goat or lamb and $800 per camel, the total cost of animals adds up to $2.8 billion. Various services offered by, transporters, butchers and slaughter houses are in addition to this amount.
Apparel Purchases:
The Eid celebration includes buying and wearing new clothes and shoes as well as women's jewelry and other accessories that add up to another $700 million spent in Pakistan.
Charity:
Animal hides and significant amounts of meat are donated to various charities and the poor on Eid. Charities like Edhi Foundation are big beneficiaries of this largesse.
Rural Economy:
Rural residents who raise animals for sale on Eid bring in billions of dollars into the rural economy. These inflows help provide livelihoods and alleviate rural poverty.
Summary:
Eid al Azha this year represents a $3.5 billion worth of economic activity that is generating jobs and helping the charities and the rural residents of the country.
Related Links:
Haq's Musings
Pakistan Among Top Meat Consuming Nations
Livestock Revolution in Pakistan
Pakistan's Rural Economy
Strong Eid Sales in Pakistan
Happy Eid-ul-Azha: Good Hygiene and Humane Treatment of Animals
Ho Kya Raha Hai - Impact of Eid-Ul-Adha on Our Economy - 12th September 2016
Comments
This trend coincides with a rise in the prices of clothes, shoes and fashion accessories. The prices have registered a 20 percent increase as compared to the previous year.
Economists attribute these trends to both traditional surge in prices and uptick in economic activity related to industrial, services, infrastructure development, domestic tourism, and growth of modern IT sectors. Only this week, Pakistan has found its way back into the category of emerging economies on the back of expanding GDP, robust performance of Karachi Stock Exchange, foreign remittances inflows, and macroeconomic stability.
Discussions with traders and entrepreneurs reveal that the trends bode well for the country, which has to pull large populations in far-off areas out of poverty.
In addition to conventional shopping like clothes, citizens are also purchasing new furniture and home appliances during the Eid season.
Except for high-end brands and the imported commodities, prices are generally stated to be slightly above last year’s level. But the children’s garments are expensive due to rising demand and traditional profiteering on part of sellers.
http://www.samaa.tv/blogs/2016/06/pakistans-eid-shopping-likely-to-touch-rs-1-trillion-mark/
“Some estimates suggest that around Rs200 to 300 billion has been shifted from urban centres to rural areas during Eidul Azha, of which 85% was spent on the purchase of sacrificial animals,” said FPCCI President Abdul Rauf Alam in a statement on Thursday – the third day of Eid.
Over 1,800 land in hospitals in Punjab due to overeating during Eid holidays
He pointed out that Eidul Azha generated great economic activity around the Muslim world and its ballooning size was a very positive indicator for Pakistan’s economy, particularly for the rural economy.
Cattle traders in Pakistan mostly come from rural areas to sell sacrificial animals in big and small cities after rearing cattle for months and even more than a year. “Rural residents, who raise animals for sale on Eid, bring billions of rupees to the rural economy and help alleviate poverty and unemployment,” he said.
“It (Eidul Azha) creates millions of temporary jobs, benefits the jobless, transporters, tanners, textile manufacturers, social and religious groups as well as others.”
It promotes the livestock sector which accounts for 58.5% of the agricultural sector and over 12% of the national economy.
“Crops are going down but the livestock sector is growing 3.6% per year; a little focus can help the country export a significant number of cattle to Saudi Arabia, which will give a boost to the rural economy and bring foreign exchange to the country,” Alam said.
How do Americans and non-Muslims view Eidul Azha?
Saudi Arabia is a huge market for cattle as besides regular consumption in households, hotels, wedding ceremonies and other occasions, millions of animals are sacrificed during Hajj every year.
Pointing out that Pakistan had become world’s fourth largest milk producer, he lamented that lack of value addition was preventing the country from capitalising on livestock sector’s potential.
The FPCCI president was of the view that a large number of people were willing to spend more liberally on the purchase of animals and price movements had failed to deter them. Apart from this, the production of cattle is increasing in the country.
http://tribune.com.pk/story/1182324/eidul-azha-generated-economic-activity-rs300b-flowed-urban-rural-areas/
The livestock sector contributed more to GDP value addition in FY16 than large-scale manufacturing, according to the State Bank of Pakistan’s annual State of the Economy report.
The contribution of livestock was 11.6pc against 10.9pc of large-scale manufacturing (LSM), the report reveals; but the sector itself grew only 3.6pc, below the 4pc level growth it had recorded in FY15.
Since the beginning of this century, the livestock sector has been growing steadily however more growth in the sector has come through value-addition in meat and milk processing and less through increase in animal headcount.
“Between FY01-10 we saw a growth (in the livestock sector) supported largely by milk processing; from then on both milk and meat processing have been fuelling growth,” says a senior official of the Ministry of National Food Security and Research.
Milk and meat production, processing and value-addition have achieved several development milestones over the years. The dairy manufacturing industry, which took root though packaged milk still accounts for 5pc of our total milk production.
The establishment of the Pakistan Halal Authority and a set of incentives including tax exemptions and the reduction in customs duty on the import of machinery for meat processing for setting up fresh abattoirs are expected to further boost livestock growth.
Immediately after the authority started issuing Halal certificates, four meat exporting companies got supply order conformations from Malaysia, a hitherto unexplored meat export market, industry sources say.
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While milk and dairy product companies continue to thrive, mainly on local demand, meat processing firms are more dependent on exports. They are now able to explore new markets after having access to Halal certification facility at home. Previously, they had to get their export consignments certified as Halal from foreign sources.
Fauji Meat a subsidiary of Fauji Fertiliser that commenced operations this April — has come in as a big morale booster. With a daily production capacity of 100 tonnes of meat (85 tonnes beef and 15 tonnes mutton), the company has started exporting both frozen and chilled meat products primarily to Kuwait and a few other countries, officials say. Al-Shaheer Corporation, an old meat exporting company, has not only maintained its market share in Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the UAE but its Meat One and Khaas Meat are doing a roaring business in local markets as well.
In addition to selling its meat products through upscale superstores and its own outlets, the company also makes bulk sales to local institutions, including top hotels and restaurants.
Both Fauji Meat and Al-Shaheer Corporation have their own large animal breeding farms to ensure uninterrupted supply of healthy animals for regular slaughtering. The fact that after 2010, meat processing and exports have made real big progress is evident in several developments. First, it was towards the end of 2010 that the All Pakistan Meat Exporters and Processors regrouped as a formal trade association and now boasts 33 registered members engaged in meat exports to GCC nations, Afghanistan and some North African countries.
Second, meat exports have grown rapidly—from 72$m in FY09 to $269m in FY16. Besides, during the current decade local sales of processed meat have taken a quantum leap so that one can find neatly-arranged frozen and chilled primal cuts of red meat in most sizeable superstores in the big cities.
Afshan SubohiUpdated August 20, 2018
https://www.dawn.com/news/1428014/eid-economy-takes-an-upturn
The demand price spiked by 20 per cent on average in 2018 because of higher transport and incidental expenses, but the increase in the selling price is in the range of five to 10pc depending on the buyers’ negotiation skills.
The greater volume of cattle trade on “Bakra Eid” means a bigger net wealth transfer from urban to rural Pakistan, with cattle farmers of Punjab being rewarded generously for their better cattle rearing skills by the market. In contrast, ultimate beneficiaries of higher consumer spending on Eidul Fitr are urban manufacturers, traders and service providers. The gains, however, are not equitably shared across all regions on both festive occasions owing to the geographical disparities in development.
Roughly one-tenth of the total population of goats and cows is sacrificed every year during the three days of Eidul Azha. Livestock has a growing share of 58.9pc in the agriculture sector and 11.1pc in the gross domestic product, according to the Pakistan Economic Survey 2017-18. The growth in the livestock sector remained 3.7pc last year, which is 80 basis points higher than the agriculture-sector growth of 2.9pc.
Currently, general sentiments are upbeat. The nation has heaved a sigh of relief at the peaceful transfer of power for the third consecutive time.
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The cash-based nature of cattle trade makes it difficult to monitor the flow of money. There is a whole chain of people involved in the activity that spans over the year and culminates on Eid. There are investors, breeders, cattle farm owners, short-term retail investors, brokers, transporters, mandi operators, caretakers in urban centres, service providers and millions of temporary workers. Identifying the share of each segment in the pie of the Eid economy is hard, but the risk-reward ratio for brokers with both ends secured is said to be the most lucrative. For all others, risks are high and returns are uncertain.
Many dependable indicators that shed light on the size of the market — like the data of hides and skins collected and the consolidated number of the headcount of cattle marked by the state-managed markets — are released after a lag of one month. At this point, we know that remittances spiked by 25pc in July to $1.93 billion from $1.5bn in the same month of 2017. Some of this hike is attributed to Eidul Azha-related transfers by overseas Pakistanis.
The figures of Eid-induced cash withdrawals and the tally of additional payments to employees in the form of bonuses have yet to surface.
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Final figures are not available, but early indicators point to a massive Eidul Azha economy revolving primarily around cattle trade. Preparations for the festive occasion spur the sale of clothes, shoes and accessories, but the major share of Eid-centric liquidity is soaked up by qurbani.
“Counting their blessings in a pleasant weather this year, Pakistanis are all set to loosen the purse strings and delve deep in fervour to celebrate the religious festival of Eidul Azha. The visible level of the activity is more than the last year’s as male members of families hit the mandis and ladies frequent malls for preparation,” a market watcher commented.
The composition of the Eidul Azha market is expected to remain unaltered as Pakistanis switch in greater numbers to the ‘group’ segment to follow the religious tradition of sacrificing cattle in the name of Almighty.
“I would love to keep the affair exclusive, but my conditions do not permit the luxury any more. After several visits to the mandi over the past week, I have decided to pool in with neighbours for a collective qurbani as the prices are way beyond my reach. I settled for a pair of goats when cows became too expensive. Last year, I sacrificed one goat. My income increment has failed to keep pace with growing family expectations,” said a senior officer of the Punjab Livestock Department over the phone.
The annual hajj that brings more than 2 million pilgrims to Saudi Arabia’s Mecca has been drastically scaled back this year due to the coronavirus pandemic, but virtual software developers are hoping to let Muslims experience what it’s like to worship at the city’s holy sites from far away.
Social-distancing measures by the Saudi government to fight the new coronavirus mean only a limited number of pilgrims already in the country can participate when this year’s hajj begins July 28. The decision is a blow for those hoping to fulfill their once-in-a-lifetime obligation to perform hajj in 2020.
Some see the news as a boon for virtual hajj software, but some Muslims question whether holy pilgrimages can be replicated virtually.
“Unfortunately, tech acceptance in the Islamic world has been a bit slower than our ambitions, with the result that specific segments of the population are unable to see the future benefit that virtual hajj can provide,” said Mohammed Alsherebi, founder of Centillion Inc., a company that advises companies expanding in the Middle East. “By focusing only on the inconvenience of the present moment, many of us are unable to see the incredible opportunity that lies ahead of us.”
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“We don’t believe there can be a substitute to an in-person hajj experience,” said Mr. Maqbool. “However, if we can bring some measure of spiritual and emotional peace to Muslims world-wide during these tough times, then we will have met our goals.”
Mr. Alhaddad, the iUmrah.World chief executive, said he is confident that a virtual hajj or umrah will one day be considered as legitimate as the real thing. The company, which Mr. Alhaddad hopes to take public in 2022, is also developing an iVatican product.
“Yes, it’s better to go yourself,” said Mr. Alhaddad. “But can you get the same experience or fulfillment by watching a pilgrimage being performed? Yes, I believe you can.”
@bilalgilani
About 15 million Households take part in Eid Qurbani (Eid ul Azha)
Half say they sacrifice goat or sheep
Half take a share in cow
That's about 7.5 million goats/ sheep
About 1 million Cows sacrificed
(Rs) 280 billion (US$1.35 billion) on goats and (Rs) 100 billion (US$480 million) on cows spent
https://twitter.com/bilalgilani/status/1546357299115167746?s=20&t=17cMiFCOa5o2RkTEExq0Ig