A fortnight after the Centre issued new rules banning the sale of cattle for slaughter, global trade analysts have suggested a rise in the price of beef internationally.
According to The Wall Street Journal, the Indian government's ban on cattle slaughter has resulted in less supply of meat from India, which has ultimately led to a surge in beef prices globally.
The report states that in an year, India's beef exports are worth approximately $4 billion.
According to the WSJ analysts, post India's ban on cattle slaughter, the Chicago Mercentile Exchange reached its maximum limit with a rise of 2.5 percent.
A Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst, Tobin Gorey, told WSJ that the Australian market has been severely affected because of the increase in global beef prices.
The Centre had passed the order to regulate the sale of bovines in the cattle market. According to a gazette notification dated 23 May by Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, cattle means a bovine animal “including bulls, bullocks, cows, buffalos, steers, heifers and calves as well as camels,” reported Financial Express.
The Centre’s decision banning the sale of cattle for slaughter received backlash from states like Kerala and West Bengal.
According to an IANS news report, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee charged the BJP with efforts to control “even people's food habits”.
“Who are they to decide what people will eat?” she asked.
Protesting against the Modi government’s cattle slaughter ban, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He said:
The prohibition of sale of cattle for slaughter will have a cascading effect on Indian industry as a whole, especially because of an insurmountable deficiency that will occur in our foreign exchange because of the drop in meat export.
Apart from this, several beef fests were organised in protest in Kerala and Tamil Nadu.
As per the data mentioned in an Indian Express news report, India’s annual meat export is around Rs 1 lakh crore, and the recent ban on cattle slaughter will impact the business severely. In 2016-17, India exported meat worth approximately Rs 26,303 crore.
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