Staff Reporter :
Tanners in Bangladesh will collect at least 95 lakh pieces of rawhides this year.
Meanwhile, tannery owners already collected 5.5 lakh pieces of rawhide directly in the first two days of Eid-ul-Azha.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) Md Shaheen Ahamed told reporters in a press briefing on Wednesday at his office in Dhaka’s Dhanmondi.
“We will begin to procure salt applied rawhides from Thursday in Dhaka and beyond the capital. We have a target to collect 90-95 lakh pieces of rawhide this year. The tanners had collected three lakh pieces of rawhide on the Eid day,,” Shaheen Ahamed said.
According to the Fisheries and Livestock Ministry, a total of 99,50,763 animals were slaughtered this year.
Multiple sources said, rawhides are not generally sold at the government fixed price.
Rawhide prices have been falling for years due to a syndicate of tannery owners and storekeepers.
However, cow hides are being sold at less than half price in the district’s haat bazaar this year too. The rawhide traders are procuring cow skin at a lower price, but they are not interested to purchase goat hides as the price of salt is double.
Even goat skin is not being sold for 10-20 taka. As a result, in most places, seasonal traders are throwing away goat skins even after buying them.
Last year, tannery owners bought around three lakh pieces of raw leather directly from the people who sacrificed cattle in the first two days of Eid.
The government has fixed the price of salted cowhide at Tk 47-52 per square foot in Dhaka and Tk 40-44 in other parts of the country, respectively up from Tk 40-45 and Tk 33-37 last year.
The price of male goat hide has been set at Tk 18-20 per sft, up from Tk 15-17 in 2021.
Last year, the prices of salted cow rawhides were fixed at Tk 40-45 per square feet in Dhaka and Tk 33-37 per square feet outside the capital.
Besides, the prices of goat hides were set at Tk 15-17 per square feet while it was Tk 12-14 per square feet of female goat hides across the country.
