6.2 million heads of sheep available for an estimated need of 5.1 million in Eid Al-Adha

Morocco has 6.2 million heads of sheep for an estimated 5.1 million heads needs for Eid Al-Adha, an annual Muslim festival.

Each Muslim family slaughters a sheep to commemorate the prophet Abraham's willingness to obey God by offering him his son. God stopped him from making the sacrifice and gave him a ram instead.

In Morocco, needs are estimated at 6.2 million heads, including 4.7 million of goats, marking a 1% increase compared to last year.

Regarding prices, the ministry explains that like last year, they will range between 30 dh and 34 DH (US$ 3.3 and US$ 3.7) per kilogram according to the race, age and size, noting that prices will however obey to the market offer and demand laws.

The ministry notes that this year and the years to come, the Eid, marked on the 10th day of the lunar month of Du-Al Hijja, is getting increasingly closer to the lambing period and most of the slaughtered animals would be those born during the 2003-2004 campaign and previous ones.

The sales expected from the Eid-related transactions is estimated at around 6.5 billion DH (US$ 722 million) to be transferred to the rural world.