Sacrificial animal hides again selling below government prices

The government increased the price of salted cowhide by Tk 2 per square foot this year compared to last year. However, hides were not sold at those rates in the capital. Instead, each hide sold for Tk 150 to Tk 200 less than last year. Traders also once again showed little interest in buying goat skins.

This is despite the fact that Bangladesh’s exports of leather and leather goods have increased over the past two years. Yet domestic rawhide prices have not risen. Seasonal and small traders say they are not getting the government-fixed prices despite demand in the market.

Seasonal hide traders and warehouse owners claim that although the government raised prices, tannery owners did not assure them of higher rates. According to them, tannery owners quoted lower prices than last year, forcing them to buy at lower rates as well. Tannery owners, however, claim prices have not decreased compared to last year; rather, each hide is selling for Tk 50–60 more.

Visits to Mohammadpur Town Hall, Dhanmondi, Science Laboratory and the Posta area of Lalbagh in the capital from noon to afternoon on Eid-ul-Azha yesterday showed that small-sized raw cowhides sold for Tk 250–400 each. Medium-sized hides sold for Tk 500–650, while large-sized hides sold for Tk 700–800. Last year, medium-sized hides sold for Tk 700–800. Goat skins, meanwhile, sold for only Tk 5–10 each, similar to the prices of recent years.

Every year, the Ministry of Commerce fixes the prices of salted hides. On 13 May, Commerce Adviser Khondaker Abdul Muktadir set this year’s prices after a meeting with stakeholders. The price of salted cowhide in Dhaka was fixed at Tk 62–67 per square foot, up from Tk 60–65 last year.

Generally, large cowhides measure 31–40 square feet, medium-sized hides 21–30 square feet, and small hides 16–20 square feet. Accordingly, the price of a salted small-sized hide should range from Tk 990 to Tk 1,200.

Medium-sized salted hides should sell for Tk 1,300–1,850, while large hides should fetch Tk 1,900–2,600.

Although the government fixes prices for salted hides, traders usually buy raw hides during the first two to three days of Eid. Processing each rawhide requires around Tk 350 for salt and labour.

Based on that calculation, small raw cowhides in Dhaka should sell for Tk 650–850, medium-sized hides for Tk 950–1,500, and large hides for Tk 1,550–2,300. However, rawhides were traded at much lower prices yesterday.

Asked why rawhide prices were low, Commerce Secretary (routine charge) Md Abdur Rahim Khan told Prothom Alo last night that the government encourages traders to apply salt quickly after Eid. “Without salt, hides tend to sell at somewhat lower prices. However, we expect salted hides to be sold at the government-fixed rates,” he said.

Government prices rarely followed

The last time sacrificial animal hides fetched high prices was in 2013, when cowhide prices stood at Tk 85–90 per square foot. Since then, prices have steadily declined for various reasons. In 2019, the rawhide market saw a major collapse.

In many parts of the country, hides were discarded on roads or buried because traders could not secure minimum prices.

As a result, hides worth around Tk 2.42 billion were wasted. The following year, prices fell further to Tk 35–40 per square foot. Although the government has gradually increased the official price over the past five years, sacrificial hides have never sold at those rates.

Md Tipu Sultan, president of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association (BHSMA), which represents warehouse owners in the Posta area, claimed that most transactions took place within the government-fixed range. “We buy rawhides by visual inspection, so there can be a variation of Tk 50 or so,” he said.

Md Sakhawat Ullah, senior vice-chairman of the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), also claimed prices had not fallen this year. “Compared to last year, prices are Tk 20–50 higher. I personally bought hides for Tk 650–950,” he told Prothom Alo.

What was seen

However, on the ground, hides were not being sold at government-fixed rates.

Faruk Hossain has been trading hides during Eid-ul-Azha for the past eight years. At around 2:00 pm yesterday, he arrived at the road in front of Labaid Hospital in Dhanmondi with 15 small and medium-sized cowhides collected from the Kalabagan area.

He asked trader Md Rubel for Tk 1,000 per hide, but Rubel offered only Tk 650 each. Even after Faruk lowered the asking price to Tk 800, the trader refused to raise his offer. Faruk eventually left without selling.

At the Science Laboratory intersection, workers from a tannery were collecting rawhides. Faruk again asked Tk 800 per hide, but they offered Tk 600. With no agreement reached, he left for another location.

Faruk Hossain told Prothom Alo that last year he had sold hides of similar quality for Tk 800–900. “Prices are lower this year. I would have sold them even at Tk 750, but no one is offering more than Tk 650,” he said.

Lower prices in posta too

Another major rawhide trading zone stretches from Balur Math in Lalbagh to Posta in Old Dhaka, where large-scale hide processing takes place. A visit there yesterday afternoon showed that large and medium-sized raw cowhides sold for a maximum of Tk 500–700 — lower than prices in the Science Laboratory area. Many warehouses in Posta were unwilling to buy small cowhides at all. Those that did offered only Tk 250–300. Last year, medium and large hides in Posta sold for Tk 700–900.

At Balur Math yesterday afternoon, Abdul Quader, principal of Nurul Quran Madrasah in Uttara, said he had brought around 150 rawhides to sell. But traders were unwilling to offer more than Tk 550 per hide.

“We hired a vehicle to bring these hides here. We cannot take them back, so we will be forced to sell at whatever price we get,” he said. Mentioning that similar hides sold for around Tk 750 last year, he added, “The government only announces prices and sits back. If there had been proper market monitoring, prices would not have collapsed like this.”

Low prices outside Dhaka too

Reports from outside Dhaka also indicate that sacrificial animal hides sold far below government-fixed rates. In Chattogram, for instance, hides sold for Tk 200–600 each, though most seasonal traders said they received no more than Tk 350.

At a temporary hide market in Chawmuhani in Chattogram city yesterday, seasonal trader Mohammad Didar Hossain said, “From morning until noon, I collected 40 hides at an average price of Tk 400 each, excluding transport costs. But here in Chawmuhani, nobody wants to pay more than Tk 150–200.”

Seasonal traders also brought raw cowhides from Dhaka and nearby areas to the Leather Industrial City in Savar. Most hides there sold for Tk 300–500 yesterday. Mufti Mohammad Abul Hasan Shahjli, who brought 50 hides from a madrasah in Dhamrai, said, “Some are offering Tk 400, others Tk 300. Last year, these hides sold for Tk 800–900.”

Supply slightly lower

Some traders also said rawhide supply has declined compared to last year. According to the Department of Livestock Services, demand for sacrificial animals this year was around 10.106 million, while nearly 12.334 million animals — including cattle and goats — had been prepared for sacrifice. However, no official count of how many animals were actually sacrificed is yet available.

Tannery owners had earlier anticipated that sacrifices might decrease this year due to economic pressures. As a result, they set a combined target of collecting 7.5 to 8 million hides, compared with 8 to 8.5 million last year.

At the Town Hall market in the capital yesterday around 1:00 pm, seasonal trader Umair Hossain said, “The supply of hides seems somewhat lower this year. Since morning, I have managed to buy only 23 hides. At the same time last year, we had already bought more than 150.” Umair believes the number of sacrificial animals may have declined this year.

Core problem lies in the leather industrial city

Although rawhide prices remain low, Bangladesh’s exports of leather and leather products have increased for a second consecutive year. According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), leather and leather goods exports reached USD 990 million during the first 10 months (July–April) of the current 2025–26 fiscal year, nearly 6 per cent higher than the same period of the previous fiscal year. Total exports last fiscal year stood at USD 1.15 billion. Industry insiders, however, say earnings could have been even higher.

Leather sector businesses say that because pollution at the Leather Industrial City in Hemayetpur remains unresolved, internationally renowned European and American brands are still unwilling to purchase Bangladeshi leather directly.

As a result, Chinese buyers are currently the largest buyers of Bangladeshi leather, and they offer lower prices. This, they say, is preventing domestic rawhide prices from increasing.

The government launched a project in 2003 to relocate the leather industry from Hazaribagh to an environmentally compliant planned industrial zone. Yet even after 21 years, the Leather Industrial City has not become environmentally sustainable. The central effluent treatment plant (CETP) at the 200-acre industrial zone in Hemayetpur, Savar, remains only partially functional, resulting in pollution of the nearby Dhaleshwari River.

Professor Md Abu Yusuf of the Development Studies Department at the University of Dhaka and executive director of the Research and Policy Integration for Development (RAPID) told Prothom Alo, “We know very well what the problems in the leather sector are and what solutions are needed. The main weakness is that no effective initiative has been taken over the years to resolve them.”

Abu Yusuf believes the leather sector could fully recover with a time-bound two-year plan. “If the CETP is repaired and 15–20 operational factories in the Leather Industrial City install separate ETPs and obtain Leather Working Group (LWG) certification, export earnings in this sector could reach USD 10–12 billion. If that happens, rawhide prices will rise automatically,” he said.