Beef prices have shot up to as high as Tk 760 a kilo in an unregulated market in the capital just a couple of days ahead of the Eid-ul-Fitr festival.
Lack of market monitoring by government agencies concerned and two city corporations encourages traders to fix the price at will, market experts observe.
The price of red meat, the most popular protein item during major festivals, has increased to Tk 700-760 from Tk 650-720 earlier.
Chain superstores like Swapna and Mina Bazar also raised the rate by Tk 50 a kg recently as they sold the item at Tk 700-710.
Nader Ali, a West Dhanmondi resident, says the price has risen by Tk 50-60 a kg in the last two days and Tk 150 in one and half months.
"I had a target to buy 4.0-kg meat for Eid but purchased only 3.0 kg for its high price," he adds.
Mr Ali says prices of most essential commodities continue to rise making it hard to run a family.
Jahura Begum, a Rayerbazar resident, was found bargaining with a shop owner over the proportion of bone and solid beef in her 3.0-kg purchase.
She says price has swelled to Tk 720 a kg. Again, traders also raised the proportion of bone to make a windfall profit.
She says over 800 gram may be bone in her 3.0-kg beef.
Moin Mahtab, owner of Bhai Bhai Meat Shop at Shangkar in the city, says the proportion of bone is still the same as 125-150 gram.
"As price has increased notably, the presence of bone is figuring high in the eyes of customers," he adds.
An ox weighing 180-200 kg is selling at Tk 125,000 to Tk 130,000 at Gabtoli Permanent Cattle Market in the city, above a 40-per cent rise in just two months.
Mr Mahtab says price has further increased by Tk 4,000-5,000 per animal in the past three days at Gabtoli.
Dhaka Metropolitan Meat Merchants' Association secretary general Rabiul Alam says the rising cost of cattle feed is causing the price hike of animals.
He says cattle from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Bihar and Paschimbanga have declined notably in numbers this year, thus causing price surge here.
Add to this, he says, a syndicate of big traders in Dhaka and their allies within different cattle-rearing and dairy farm associations in districts have made the situation even worse.
Bangladesh Dairy Farmers Association (BDFA) president Imran Hossain, however, rejects any claim of a syndicate responsible for a hike in cattle prices.
"It's no syndication. It's a hike in feed prices by 80-90 per cent in a year which is responsible for such a spike in beef and mutton prices," he argues.
Consumers Association of Bangladesh vice-president SM Nazer Hossain says there is no regulation of the beef market by the agencies concerned.
Dhaka north and south corporations have not fixed the maximum price of beef in the past three years, he adds.
Mobile courts are also almost absent from the market.
Mr Hossain calls for strict market monitoring ahead of Eid to give customers some succour.
An estimated 12-million cows are slaughtered countrywide annually, including 5.0 million alone in Eid-ul-Azha and 2.0 million in Ramadan and Eid-ul-Fitr.
Demand for cows usually surges three to four times during Eid festivals, according to the government's livestock services department.
