28th May 2026 - 2 min read
Wagyu cattle are making their way into this year’s Qurban market, with buyers in Kelantan reportedly paying as much as RM40,000 for a single animal this Aidiladha season, according to Sinar Harian.
The breed is better known for premium steakhouses than religious observances, but a small segment of buyers has chosen wagyu for the annual sacrifice. Demand is still limited relative to the overall Qurban market, which requires more than 40,000 cattle across the country during Aidiladha. Still, industry players say interest in premium beef is on the rise.
Kelfarm Sdn Bhd executive director Paizol Akman Awang said wagyu Qurban remains niche, with buyers coming from corporate groups and high-net-worth individuals who have a preference for premium breeds.
From a religious standpoint, any healthy cattle that meets the age and physical requirements for Qurban is valid, regardless of breed. The appeal of wagyu appears to be less about religious obligation and more about the premium status the breed carries among buyers who can afford the difference.
In Bukit Kajang, Raub, AGK Dairy Fresh Sdn Bhd is positioning itself to supply the market in the years ahead. Managing director Abdul Gaffar Khan Amirullah said the company is focused on wagyu breeding and plans to begin marketing its cattle once its herd exceeds 1,000 head.
That milestone is still some years away, which means wagyu Qurban is unlikely to become broadly available in the near term. Supply of this kind takes years to build up, and the market would need to grow a lot before farms can justify scaling production for Qurban alone.
If you contributed to a cow Qurban before the pandemic, you likely paid somewhere between RM500 and RM550 for your share. A cow is divided into seven shares, so that works out to a total animal cost of roughly RM3,500 to RM3,850.
By 2023, that share had risen to between RM750 and RM850. In 2025 and into 2026, prices ranged from RM850 to over RM900, with some madrasahs and private farms quoting closer to RM920.
The increases reflect rising costs for feed, livestock, and labour, and there is little sign of prices easing.
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Christina writes about personal finance with an eye for making the complicated feel straightforward. She is drawn to the everyday money decisions people face and genuinely enjoys finding the clearest way to explain them. Between articles, she is probably napping, on a hiking trail, or terrorising her sister’s cats.
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