Because of the heavy rains activities in wholesale and retail commodity markets have been flat: there are fewer buyers before Eid-ul-Azha Apart from disrupting normal life, the rain-clogged roads and traffic snarls discouraged Eid shoppers. Free movement in what would have been busy shopping areas became extremely difficult. Traders had anticipated that before Eid-ul-Azha sales of refrigerators and deep-freezers would surge because people buy them for preservation of the meat of slaughtered animals. But buyers' response was far less enthusiastic this year.
Traders said that because of the rain there was a decline in sales, with many shoppers reluctant to visit markets from Thursday morning. "Our sales have increased a little bit, but not as we had anticipated," said one shopkeeper.