Butchers feel the pinch as they don't get their pound of flesh

Dubai: Butchers at supermarkets are being flooded with calls from customers asking for Indian mutton which has completely disappeared from the market during the past week.

Surprisingly, suppliers do not know the reason for the shortage except to say that India has stopped exports of mutton.

"I do not know the reason," said one manager of a popular shopping centre on Al Wahda Street in Sharjah. "We have to compromise," he said, adding that it is now selling mutton from local sheep instead.

"This is the last plate of Somali mutton chops," said Sukumar at a Choithram's outlet in Safa yesterday. He said Indian expatriates do not eat Australian or mutton from Europe because of the 'smell' and prefer Ethiopian or Somali mutton.

One expatriate said Australian sheep are very fatty and the meat is not as tender. "I buy about two kgs of Indian mutton twice a week," said Sitharam, who had called to check if Indian mutton is back on the market. Another expatriate said the fat in the Australian meat gives off a bad odour and even strong spices cannot cover it up.

Abraham, another butcher at an Indian-run establishment, said he used to sell meat from about 8 sheep carcasses every day before the mysterious shortage. Indian mutton sold at Dh19.50 per kg before the shortage. Australian mutton sells for Dh35 per kg. Somali mutton is priced Dh23 per kg.

Rising cost

Not many asked for Ethiopian mutton before, now that is also in very short supply, said Jaffar, a Pakistani butcher in Karama. But he said Indian beef is available.

A restaurant owner in Karama alleged that butchers are trying to pass off veal as mutton or mixing beef into mutton. "I have asked them not to do that as the customers can easily find out," said Santhan Alva of Winny's restaurant. He said after the bird flu scare, customers usually ask for mutton dishes or fish. He said the cost of mutton has shot up about Dh 4 per kilo but that he has not passed on the hike to the customers.

Another Pakistani butcher at the Karama fish market said Pakistani expatriates also eat a lot of Indian mutton. "Pakistan mutton is very expensive to import," he said.

Arab restaurants in Dubai do not seem to be not aware of the shortage of Indian mutton. A manager of one of the leading Arab restaurants, said it mostly uses Australian meat. Elie Makhoul, Manager of Karam Beirut Restaurant, said that Indian mutton is not in demand by his customers.