The head of the Butchers Association expects a decrease in meat prices as a result of the “lack of smuggling”!

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The head of the “Butchers Association in Damascus,” Edmond Quteish, expected that meat prices would decrease in the coming days, as a result of the “significant” drop in smuggling during the current period.

In an exclusive statement to “Hashtag”, Qutaish explained that the upcoming drop in meat prices will negatively affect breeders due to losses they may suffer as a result of selling prices that “do not match” the expenses they need.

According to Qutaish, raising meat prices will lead to a percentage of breeders leaving calves and sheep, which could lead to a decrease in the size of livestock in the future.

The head of the Welders Association added that calves and sheep breeders are losing at the current selling prices, pointing out that the main reasons for their loss are due to the current high prices of fodder, and the high transport wages, which have doubled 5 times than before.

Earlier, Qutaish said that the rate of sheep and calves smuggling had decreased to 70 percent, considering it a “very good” rate.

Last March, Qutaish explained that 40% of the purchase rate of meat is due to the high cost, and it is limited to well-off people, attributing the main reason behind this to the smuggling of livestock towards Lebanon and northern Syria.

He added that 15 percent of meat shops were closed due to the decline in demand for them, warning that livestock in Syria are “threatened with extinction.”

The director of slaughterhouses at the Syrian Trade, Majdi al-Bashir, told Al-Watan newspaper that the consumption of meat has decreased since before 2010 from nine kilograms per person to two kilograms annually, explaining that prices have risen 20 times during the past years.

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