Residents of Shymkent are complaining about a sharp rise in meat prices. According to them, over the past month the cost of lamb and beef in the city has increased by 500 tenge.
According to ORDA, residents report that in December they were buying beef at the market for 2,700 tenge, whereas now it is being sold for 3,200 tenge.
It is noted that the price increase has also affected those selling meat. A seller at one of the local markets stated that most of the meat is being exported to Uzbekistan, where it is sold at a higher price.
"For butchers, it is profitable: there, the retail price is about 4,200 tenge per kilogram. We, on the other hand, are forced to buy the product through intermediaries. Just a month ago, I was buying lamb for 2,200 tenge per kilogram and selling it for 2,500. Now the purchase price has risen to 2,800–2,900, and the retail price to 3,000", the report states.
Furthermore, she mentioned that suppliers are planning to raise the wholesale price per kilogram of lamb to 3,000 tenge.
Meanwhile, the publication ElDala.kz writes that meat processing plants are warning Kazakh citizens about a rise in beef prices. It reports that, taking into account the mark-ups of processors, wholesalers and retailers, the price per kilogram of the product could rise to 5,000 tenge.
Experts primarily link this to the weakening of the tenge.
"Foreign buyers are currently offering Kazakh farmers around $5-5.2 per kg of beef. At the current tenge exchange rate, that's 2,600-2,700 tenge per kg of meat. To compete with foreign buyers, local meat processing plants are forced to raise their purchase price to the same level", the report states.
The second reason, in their opinion, is the high humidity last summer, and consequently, low prices for hay and animal feed.
"Also, the high grain harvest led to low grain prices. Added to that, a large volume of both barley and low-quality wheat was produced. All of this allowed livestock farmers to stock up on fodder at affordable prices", the specialists explain.
It is noted that a reduction in livestock slaughter may have also stimulated price increases and led to a decrease in supply on the meat market.
"Furthermore, the moisture in the pastures and the warm autumn allowed livestock to be kept on free range for a sufficiently long time. And if that is the case, those farmers who did not need cash specifically in the autumn preferred not to slaughter their livestock before winter, but to keep them until spring. Then prices will be higher, and the animals themselves will be larger", the experts conclude.