(27 Dec 2019) LEAD IN: Eating meat in Libya has become a luxury.
Livestock breeders and meat sellers are calling on the government to step in.
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There are plenty of sheep in the Suluq livestock market in eastern Libya but despite the abundance, the animals are out of reach for many Libyans.
The price of local sheep can reach 1,000 Libyan dinars ($714).
But still Libyans prefer fresh livestock to imported meat, they say it is better quality.
The price hike comes from the elevated price of fodder, which has more than quadrupled, according to breeder Moftah al-Agouri.
"The price of barley was for between 40 to 45 Libyan dinars ($28 -$32) and now it is ranges from 200 to 250 Libyan dinars ($142 - $178)," he says.
Breeders are also struggling to buy medication for their sheep, he adds.
Some kinds of medicine that previously sold for 15 dinars ($11) have climbed to 170 dinars ($121), al-Agouri says.
Previously, the government and the private sector produced enough fodder and grains to support nationwide demands.
But a breakdown in the system has forced them to look outwards and make imports to fulfil demands within the local market.
Yet, the rise in the price of fodder and medicine are not the only factors pushing the price of meat up.
The unavailability of imported sheep is also creating additional pressure on the market, says butcher Hassan al-Wezri.
Libya's government , which controls all imports, is rarely buying foreign sheep.
"If it was available it, I would say the price of the sheep will decrease for sure, and people will not buy the local sheep, because they look for the cheapest," al-Wezri adds.
Imported meat sells for around 25 Libyan dinars ($18), while a kilo of local meat sells for 40 dinars ($28), according to al-Wezri.
The spike in the price of local livestock is leaving butchers with marginal earnings, al-Wezri adds.
Prices have been increasing since 2014 .
They would inevitably go further up, significantly, if imports stop completely, says economic expert Attia al-Fetouri.
"It may reach 50 or 60 Libyan dinars ($35 - $43) per kilo," he says, adding that imported meat plays some role in keeping prices down.
The solution for all this is that the government imports more livestock to increase supply and ease prices but also allows merchants to make imports themselves and do that at the official currency rate with no extra fees, adds al-Fetouri.
In recent years, a shortage of cash in Libya was followed by a large discrepancy between official and black market exchange rates.
The dollar is changed in the black market at more than double the official exchange rate.
Libya remains split between two governments — one based in the eastern city of Benghazi, the other in the historical capital of Tripoli — after descending into chaos in 2011.
The battle over Tripoli in the past months has threatened to plunge Libya into another bout of violence, the scale of the 2011 conflict that ousted and killed longtime dictator Moammar Gadhafi.
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