Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The seasonal traders and hide merchants are now facing immense troubles in selling rawhide of sacrificial animals as the tanners are reluctant to pay the fair price on the plea of fall of price in the international market.
They said, the tanners are now faltering to purchase rawhides from the traders apparently to put pressure to sell their stocks at lower prices to maximize their profit.
“An indifference was prevailing among the stakeholders of leather sector centering the procurement price of rawhides of sacrificial animals and this has created an uncertainty over the country’s vital leather industry,” Ali Hossain, Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association (BHSMA) told The New Nation on Monday.
He said rawhides were being traded at higher rates during the Eid-ul-Azha from the official procurement rates fixed before the Eid by the industry stakeholders. “We have also collected rawhides from the seasonal traders at higher rates to sell those to the tanners.
But, the tanners are showing apathy to offer fair prices of the stuff on the ground of falling price in international market,” he added.
Besides, they are yet to start their full-fledged procurement from the seasonal traders and hide merchants with an intension to dictating the market prices of raw hides.
Ali Hossain further said that they have information that seasonal traders of the bordering districts have already preserved huge quantity of rawhides due to the apathy of the tanners for offering fair prices. If they do not get their demanded prices from the tanners, they might sale their collected hides to the Indian traders through smuggling.
They have procured an insignificant quantity of rawhide and skin from the market and this attitude of the tanners could lead to a significant fall in market prices of rawhides as well as pave the way of a possible smuggling of the stuff to India.
Tipu Sultan, a former leader of the Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters’ Association (BFLLGFEA) said, “We are unable to pay high prices for the rawhides collected during the Eid because the traders procured those beyond the fixed rates.”
“We have already negotiated the price of finished leathers with our buyers. So, how can we pay the additional price,” he asked.
He also claimed that both prices and demand of local leather continued to decline in the international market.
He also said that 10 per cent of the total rawhides of the sacrificial animals have already been traded and the rest of the amount will be traded within the next two months.
Tipu, also a tannery industry owner, however, said that they are going slow to procure rawhides this time considering the prevailing market situation.
When asked, he said, the tannery industry owners have fixed a target to procure about 220 million square feet of rawhides this year considering their capacity.
The former BFLLGFEA leader expressed the hope that the prevailing situation of the leather market will be eased soon and we see a limited scope of smuggling rawhides to India this year.
Brushing aside traders’ claim of price manipulation, he said: “We’re not dictating prices of rawhide and skin. The current trend of market prices is largely determined by the global factors.”
“We cannot purchase rawhides at high rates to incur losses. Besides, many of the big buyers are not interested to import leather from Bangladesh because of environmental issues,” said M Abu Taher, the incumbent Chairman of BFLLGFEA.
He, however, expressed their hope that the stalemate would be resolved within a couple of days and tanners and exporters would begin to buy raw hides offering realistic price.
Meanwhile, seasonal traders alleged that tanners and leather exporters forming an unholy nexus are dictating market price of hide and skin resulting significant fall in market prices of rawhides.
