Despite hopes for a fair return, seasonal traders expressed disappointment over the low prices of rawhides during this year鈥檚 Eid-ul-Azha.
According to reports from the capital and various districts, cowhides were sold at an average rate of Tk 700 to Tk 1,000, which is below the fair price.
The small-sized and poorly conditioned hides were sold between Tk聽500 and Tk聽600, while the goat鈥檚 skins were sold for Tk聽20 and Tk聽30 or given away at no cost.
However, wholesalers and warehouse merchants stated that this year鈥檚 rawhide prices were actually higher than those of previous years.
They said that the seasonal traders earned less due to delays in sales and poor preservation techniques.
Commerce adviser Sk Bashir Uddin on Tuesday said that rawhides of sacrificial animals during this Eid ul Azha were sold at the highest rate this time compared with the past 10 years.
Earlier on Sunday, he said that the rawhides of the sacrificial animals were sold at a government-fixed price.
He also said that they had earlier fixed the price of salted hides, but the prices of raw hides being sold at the prices ranging from Tk聽700 to Tk聽1,000 鈥� based on the condition.
He also said that most of the seasonal rawhide traders lack sufficient experience and knowledge in the preservation of rawhides. To some extent, they are getting lower prices for rawhides due to the poor condition of rawhides.
According to our Feni correspondent, the seasonal rawhide traders faced severe financial losses, echoing the struggles of previous years. Across the district鈥檚 six upazilas, traders who collected cow and buffalo hides from door-to-door found themselves unable to sell their stock, even after waiting for two days.
With no buyers in sight and no storage facilities available, many traders were forced to abandon the hides. In some areas, rawhides were left strewn along the roadsides, and some traders dumped them into the Silonia and Muhuri rivers.
Talking to 抖阴精品, Md Elias Hossain, vice-president of the Bangladesh Hides and Skin Merchant Association, said that some seasonal traders sold their rawhides delayed or failed to preserve them properly, resulting in lower prices.
鈥楧ue to lack of awareness, they delayed to sell the hide expecting more prices and didn鈥檛 preserve them with salt which spoiled the rawhides,鈥� he added.
He also said that as tannery owners did not pay their outstanding dues, seasonal traders have been unable to raise money in advance, and consequently, they have lost interest in collecting hides.
The merchants said that the government had clearly instructed all traders to salt the hides properly and store them until buyers could offer better prices.
They also said that had the traders followed the preservation guidelines, they could have fetched higher prices just a couple of days later.
Md Tipu Sultan, secretary general of BHSMA, told The 抖阴精品 that they purchased the rawhides from seasonal traders at fair prices.
鈥榃e provided fair prices as per the condition of hides. Large and timely arrived rawhide got a price ranging from Tk聽1,000 to Tk聽1,200,鈥� he added.
He also said that the actual trading would start within the next three to four days, where the salted hides would be traded.
Earlier, on May 26, the interim government set the prices of salted rawhide from cows at Tk 60-65 per square foot in the capital, Dhaka, and Tk 55-60 per square foot outside the capital. In the previous year, the price of cow rawhide was Tk 55-60 per square foot, a rate set almost one year ago.
Speaking to 抖阴精品, Shaheen Ahmed, president of the Bangladesh Tanners Association, stated that the purchase of salted hides from traders would commence within a few days in the capital and within a week outside the capital.
鈥楬owever, as of my knowledge, good quality and unsalted cow hides were sold for Tk聽900 to Tk聽1,000, which is a positive trend compared with the past years. I hope that the price of salted hides would also be fair,鈥� he added.
Tannery owners had set a target of collecting between 8 and 8.5 million pieces of rawhide this Eid.
Meanwhile, BHSMA vice-president Elias Hossain said that if the government did not take the initiative to modernise Savar tannery estate, every attempt would fail.
鈥楪overnment must work to make Savar tannery estate ecofriendly, set up standard Central Effluent Treatment Plant, and to get Leather Working Group Certificate,鈥� he added.
China buys hides at 50 cents per sft from Bangladesh and exports them for $1. Leather is a homegrown raw material of the country; it can surpass the RMG sector if it achieves the LWG certificate and can export to the US and the EU, he added.
In the financial year 2023-24, Bangladesh exported leather and leather goods worth $1.03 billion, said the Export Promotion Bureau.
