Butchers in Aweil town have reportedly resumed operations after the town council nullified its order imposing meat prices in the Northern Bahr el Ghazal State capital.
On Monday, the butchers downed their tools protesting the imposed prices of meat.
The municipal council had ordered them to reduce the price of one kilogram of goat meat from 4000 – 3000 Pounds and that of beef from 3000 to 2000 SSP – a move they rejected citing high prices of livestock.
“We buy a bull at around 300,000 SSP – 500,000 at the auction house. So, if you come and sell the meat at the price of 2000 per kilo, it will be 200,000 SSP – which is a huge loss to us,” said Gordon Majok Makuei, the head of butchers, on Monday.
As a result, they vowed to keep they butcheries closed unless the local government withdraw the order.
On Wednesday, Majok told Akol Yam FM that the council had allowed the butchers to sell the meat at the initial prices.
He said: “We have reopened and now calling upon the public to know that the government has given us the greenlight to sell meat at the normal prices we demanded.”
Earlier, they argued that they would be making “huge losses” if they sold meat at the town council prices. They challenged the government to see for itself the losses by buying cow and goat and selling it at lower prices.
For their part, the town mayor confirmed that butchers are allowed to sell the meat at the usual prices after assessing the market conditions.
“We have allowed the butchers to continue selling meat at the old prices because we went to the auction and got the same prices,” said Zachariah Dut.