The price of salt-treated cowhide was Tk 50-55 per sqft in Dhaka this year. The commerce ministry fixed this price after discussing it with traders. Accordingly, the price of a medium-size cowhide of 25 sqft should be Tk 1,250-1,375. If Tk 300 is excluded for salt, labour wages and other expenses, the approximate price stands at Tk 950-1,075.
Visiting various places of the capital including the Posta area on the day of Eid-ul-Azha, Thursday, medium-size rawhide was seen being sold at Tk 600-850, which is at least Tk 200 lower than the price set by the government.
The government fixes price of salt-treated raw every year, but this rate is not followed during the initial sale of rawhide after slaughtering sacrificial animals as this sale usually takes place based on estimates. As a result, people slaughtering sacrificial animals and seasonal traders alleged every year that they did not receive fair price, and this year was no exception.
Rawhide price mostly Tk 700-850 in Dhaka
Old Dhaka’s Posta is the largest area to buy and sell hide of sacrificial animals. Mahbubur Rahman, director of Jamea Islamia Forkania Madarasa in the capital’s Kamrangirchar, brought five medium-size hides to Posta on Thursday. At first, he asked for Tk 1,200 per hide from a warehouse owner, but the trader said he can give Tk 700 per hide.
Mahbubur Rahman then bargained with the trader for two minutes and sold these five hides at Tk 850 per piece, totaling Tk 4,250. Speaking to Prothom Alo, “I have made a profit of Tk 50 per hide more than the last year’s price, but price should be higher as per their sizes and the rate fixed by the government.”
Seasonal trader Ramzan Hossain, from capital’s Kalabagan, said, “The price of hide is slightly higher this year than last year’s price, but we are not making that much profit.”
The scenario was more or less similar in other places of the capital. Rawhide was sold mostly at Tk 650-850 in the capital this year.
Price much lower outside Dhaka
The government fixed the price of cowhide at Tk 45-48 per sqft outside Dhaka. Accordingly, the price of a 25-sqft hide was supposed to be more than Tk 825, but no sale of hide over Tk 700 was reported from outside Dhaka. Hides were sold at Tk 300-700 in Rajshahi city on Eid day and prices were similar in Jashore and Chuadanga while it was Tk 300-400 in Sylhet and Mouvibazar.
Kawser Ali, a butcher from Dargapara of Rajshahi city, said hide market was not like this even 10 years ago. Price of large-size cowhide even rose to Tk 5,000, but such hide is sold at maximum Tk 700 now.
Warehouse owners say otherwise
Other than the warehouse owners, tannery owners, merchants, middlemen and wholesale traders purchase rawhide to salt-processing. As a result, competition exists in the market, and that is why there is less opportunity to deceive anyone while purchasing hides, Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association president Aftab Hossain observed.
He told Prothom Alo everyone has the opportunity to verify price at the markets. Seasonal traders purchase at 7 to 8 different prices and they then verify and sell those hides. As a result, it is unlikely for someone to face a loss, Aftab Hossain added.
Habibur Rahman of Shuraim Enterprise warehouse in Posta said price of hide rose this year, but price of salt also increased much. Or else, seasonal traders got higher prices in rawhide, he added.
Less interest in goat hides
Though the commerce ministry increased the price of cowhide slightly, it didn’t raise the price of goat hide. Like the previous year, price of khashi (castrated goat) was supposed to be at Tk 18-20 per sqft and price of she-goat at Tk 18-20 per sqft. As warehouse and tannery owners showed no interest in goat hide this year, many people abandoned it or sold at a nominal price.
Tannery owners said global demand of goat hide has dropped. Besides, most of the local tanneries that processed goat hides have been closed. As a result tanners were buying fewer goat hides.
Fear of massive pollution
The owners of 142 tanneries in the Savar tannery estate set a target of collecting 10 million hides during this year’s Eid-ul-Azha. Many salt-trated hides have already started arriving at the tanneries. Like every year, tanners fear for environmental and river pollution as work on the central effluent treatment plant (CETP) of the tannery estate remains incomplete.
The CETP is still incomplete, and that is why a fear of environmental pollution remains, said Sakhawat Ullah, who is general secretary of Bangladesh Tanners’ Association and managing director of Salman Tannery.
*This report appeared in the print and the online editions of Prothom Alo and has been rewritten in English by Hasanul Banna