Shah Alam Nur :
Seasonal rawhide traders are facing huge losses in trading rawhide of sacrificial animals, as tanners offered them almost half of the price with which they (traders) had bought the rawhide.
Many of the seasonal traders had no option other than selling the rawhide at lower rates, as they did not have facility to preserve them.
Seasonal traders have blamed the tanners and rawhide merchants for depriving them of the ‘due price’.
“They (tanners and merchants) have formed syndicates to procure rawhide at throwaway price,” Jahangir Alam, a small trader alleged while talking to The New Nation at Hazaribag on Wednesday.
He said that he brought around 300 rawhides of cows from Narayanganj and now are under duress to sell at low price.
He said, tanners are offering around Tk 800 to Tk 1,000 for a cowhide while I bought each of the rawhide at Tk 1,600 to Tk 2,000.’
Pervez Ahmed from Jhigatola said that he bought about 75 pieces of cowhide on the Eid day with the hope of making some additional money. Instead he has incurred a loss of about Tk 50,000.
He said “I bought cowhide at an average price of Tk 2,300 each, but I had to sell those at an average price of Tk 1,700 a piece.”
He said, he has lost in business, as he failed to sell the rawhide in time. Besides he could not maintain their quality due to lack of proper and timely salting.
Some other traders also said that they were being offered almost 30-40 per cent less price of the rawhide.
They said that like previous years they bought rawhide at a little bit higher prices than the set price but this year tanners were not allowing any higher prices and most of the seasonal traders failed to sell their items.
On September 23, the three associations of tannery industries including Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association (BHSMA) and Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLGFEA) fixed their procurement prices for rawhide at Tk 50-55 per square foot in Dhaka, Tk 40-54 for places outside Dhaka, Tk 20-22 for sheep skin, and Tk 15-17 for goat skin.
They had fixed prices at lower level this year in line with leather prices in the international market.
Last year, the price of raw cowhide was fixed at Tk 70-75 per square foot in Dhaka, and Tk 60-65 for outside the city.
“Sometimes we are offering even 10-15 per cent higher rates in case of quality rawhide,” Tipu Sultan, Secretary General of BHSMA said.
He said, they have been forced to set the price of rawhide lower than last year due to declining demand for the commodity in the international market.
He said the price of rawhide is usually set on the basis of their demand in the international market.
He said, every year the tanners set reasonable prices for the item, so that people can get fair prices and the traders do not incur loss.
He said “Despite fixing rates, some of the seasonal traders create problems by buying rawhide at higher prices. Many of the tanners had to collect rawhide at Tk 70-80 per square foot against the fixed rate of Tk 50-55.”
This year on an average a standard-sized cowhide was being sold at Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,500 and small-size ones at Tk 700 to Tk 1,000 each. The prices were, however, a little bit higher on the Eid day.
“Seasonal and small traders are creating a bad situation by buying rawhide at higher prices, and they have to incur loss for it. They do not have any knowledge about the market,” Abu Taher, Chairman of BFLLGFEA said.
He said, many western buyers have already informed that they cannot import leather from Bangladesh due to environmental issues.
According to BHSMA, nearly 50 per cent of the country’s annual demand for cowhide and goat and lambskin is met from animals sacrificed during the Eid, 10 per cent during Eid-ul-Fitre, and two per cent during Shab-e-Barat.
The BHSMA data also showed at present, a total of 194 tanners buy rawhide during the Eid. About 220 million sft of rawhide are collected in the country every year.
