RAWHIDE OF SACRIFICIAL ANIMALS: Merchants bought rawhide at 30pc lower than usual price: meat traders

Rawhide traders bought skins of sacrificial animals during this Eid-ul-Azha at prices which were more than 30 per cent lower than that in any other time of the year, depriving the poor and unprivileged, the recipients of the money, of higher financial assistance.
The money people get from selling rawhides of sacrificial animals during Eid-ul-Azha, one of biggest Muslim religious festivals, donate to the poor and unprivileged.
Leaders of the Dhaka Meat Traders Association claimed that they sold cowhide at Tk 70-Tk 75 a square feet before this Eid-ul-Azha, which was celebrated on September 13, but tanners and rawhide merchants set the prices of the hide at Tk 40-Tk 50 a square feet for the Eid.
They said that the prices set by the tanners and rawhide merchants were unacceptable.
Tanners, however, said the prices of rawhide vary based on the quality of the items but during Eid-ul-Azha tanners set an average price for all type of hides of sacrificial animals as seasonal traders are not aware about the grade and quality of animal skins.
They said if the tanners do not set an average prices of hides during Eid-ul-Azha, the sector would face losses as tanners and rawhide traders have no scope to segregate the hides based on quality in the field level during the Eid due to a supply of huge number of rawhides.
Before this Eid-ul-Azha, tanners set the prices of salted cowhide at Tk 50 a square feet for Dhaka and Tk 40 a square feet for outside of Dhaka, which were 10 per cent lower than the prices of last year.
They also announced the buying prices of castrated goat skin at Tk 20 a square feet and that of goat skin at Tk 15 a square feet across the country.
Last year, the leather sector businesses had set the prices of salted cowhide at Tk 50-55 a square feet for Dhaka and Tk 40-45 a square feet for outside of Dhaka, which were Tk 20 lower than the rate of 2014.
In 2015, the buying prices of castrated goat skin were Tk 20-22 a square feet and that of goat skin Tk 15-17 a square feet.
‘Cowhides were being sold at Tk 70-Tk 75 a square feet while goat skins at Tk 25- Tk 30 a square feet before this Eid-ul-Azha. In some cases, we sold cowhide at Tk 80 a square feet,’ Md Rabiul Alam, secretary general of Bangladesh Meat Traders Association, told New Age.
He said seasonal and small traders across the country protect the rawhides of sacrificial animals but tanners and big traders avail crores of taka in bank loans and create syndicate to buy the hides at lower prices, depriving the poor section of people of higher donation.
Rabiul urged the government to monitor properly the rawhide market to find whether the tanners are spending the bank money to buy rawhides or investing in any other projects.
Shakhawat Ullah, secretary general of the Bangladesh Tanners Association, said the prices of rawhides depend on the quality of items.
‘A-D-graded cowhide was being traded at Tk 60-65 a square feet and grade E-H at Tk 30-40 a square feet before this Eid-ul-Azha. None but professional traders can grade the rawhides based on quality and so we set average prices of rawhides for the seasonal traders so that sector businesses do not face losses,’ he said.
Shakhawat claimed that the prices of rawhides of sacrificial animals set by the tanners were not lower than that of any other time of the year as traders were buying all type of hides irrespective of quality at the same prices.
Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association chairman Mohammad Delwar Hossain said, ‘It is true that the prices of quality cowhide are Tk 70-75 a square feet. It may seem that the prices [set by tanners and merchants for the Eid-ul-Azha period] of rawhides of sacrificial animals are lower than that in any other time of the year. But the seasonal traders bought hides irrespective of quality at the same prices,’ he said.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net