Kazi Zahidul Hasan :
The tanners’ bid to fix a lower rawhide procurement rate of sacrificial animal could lead to an unbridled smuggling of the item to the neighbouring countries, traders and merchants apprehended on Tuesday. They alleged that tanners are putting pressure on them to fix a lower rawhide procurement rate this year citing global price fall.
The purchasing price for per square feet of rawhide at the field level will be announced today (Wednesday).
“The rawhide prices will be fixed in line with the international market prices. It will surely see a cut from last year,” said M Shahin Ahmed, Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA).
He said this after a meeting with Commerce Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon on Sunday.
Leaders of BTA, Leathergoods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh, and Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association attended the meeting held at the Secretariat in the capital.
The business leaders proposed that the maximum price of per square foot rawhide of sacrificial animals should be at Tk 45-50 in Dhaka and Tk40-45 outside Dhaka. The prices of goats rawhide were proposed at Tk 25-30 per square foot.
Last year, the rates were set at Tk 70-75 per square foot in the capital and Tk 60-65 outside the capital. Buffalo and goat skin prices were fixed at Tk 35 to Tk 40. “If procurement price of raw hides goes down from that of previous year, it will encourage the merchants and seasonal traders to sell them to smugglers. Smugglers will later sneak them across the borders to India where the prices are usually higher,” said a leader of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association (BHSMA), told The New Nation on Tuesday, asking not to be named.
He alleged that tanners and leather exporters have already formed an unholy nexus to manipulate price of hide and skin of sacrificial animals that will allow them to make windfall gain.
“We foresee massive smuggling of rawhide if fair prices are not offered by the tanners,” said Md Shahin Ahmed, a rawhide trader of Sylhet.
He said, it is their common practice…They did the same last year on the plea of price fall in the global market. Such a practice is not only depriving the people to get fair prices for their rawhide but also compelling a section of traders to sell hides to smugglers.
“The possibility of rawhide smuggling is very high this year when the tanners are reluctant to fix a realistic price of the item,” said Alauddin Mukul, a hide trader at Rajarhat in Jessore.
He said, Indian traders have already invested a large amount of money in border-belt areas to purchase rawhides from Bangladesh. If they are allowed to conduct such illicit trade, scarcity of rawhide would be created here posing threat to local leather industry.
To stop the practice, Mukul urged the government to intensify vigilance and watch in the borders once the Eid-ul Azha is over.
Ruling out the allegation of any manipulation, M Shahin Ahmed, Chairman of BTA, told The New Nation yesterday that global rawhide prices came down by 30 per cent during the last six months and we have to take account of this while setting the prices for local market.
“We are not going to dictate prices of rawhide and skin. Their market prices would be determined by the global factors,” Engr Abu Taher, President of the Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters’ Association (BFLLGFEA) told The New Nation on Tuesday.
Brushing aside traders’ claim of price manipulation, he said, “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.”
When asked, he said, as the government has already taken preventive measures, there is a limited scope of smuggling rawhides to neighbouring countries.
The local leather industry required 220 million square feet hides every year. Nearly 48 per cent of the annual demand is met during the Eid-ul-Azha every year, 10 per cent during the Eid-ul-Fitr and Shab-e-Baraat and two per cent during Kali Puja.
The rest is collected throughout the year.
Bangladesh fetched US$1.13 billion from the exports of leather and leather goods in last fiscal year (2014-15), making the sector the second highest contributor to national exports after garment.
The EU, the US and Canada are the big markets for Bangladeshi leather and leather goods.
