Rawhides sell for throwaway prices in Bangladesh

The prices of cowhides plunged to as low as Tk 200 a piece on an average in Bangladesh on Saturday as people found very few buyers of rawhides of the sacrificial animals. 

Many people, who sacrificed animals, claimed that very few seasonal traders visited them and offered them highest Tk 300 for an average size cowhide and also refused to take goat skin.

Few seasonal traders were seen to buy rawhides in Mohammadpur area in Dhaka city for Tk 300 per piece saying that wholesalers asked them not to collect cowhides for more than Tk 300-350.

‘It is unbelievable that we have bought a cow for Tk 1.12 lakh and rowhide traders have offered Tk 300 fot its hide. I have donated it to an orphanage,’ said Akter Hossain of Mohammadpur.

Against the backdrop of the price disorder of rawhides in the past year, many seasonal traders kept them away from collecting the rawhides of sacrificial animals this year.

Sector insiders said that most of the small traders and few seasonal traders were collecting rawhides across the country as per the instruction from wholesalers.

Cow rawhides were sold for throwaway prices across the country while many people failed to sell goat skins.

Manjurul Haque, a businessman at Manirampur in Jashore, said that he sacrificed a castrated-goat but hide traders refused to take the skin even free of cost.

‘I have donated the skin to a Madrassah,’ he said.

Sirajul Islam, a farmer at Manirampur, said that they sold a cowhide for Tk 200 and the buying price of the sacrificial animal was Tk 80,000.

‘Only one trader visited us to buy the rawhide and we had no option,’ he said.

Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association secretary general Tipu Sultan said that the traders at Posta in Dhaka city started buying rawhides from small and seasonal traders from Saturday noon.

‘Considering the business at home and abroad, we instructed small traders to buy the rawhides carefully and we would pay them based on the quality of hides,’ he said.

Tipu said that they were buying cowhides for Tk 500-700 a piece based on its quality.

This year, the government set the prices of rawhides 29 per cent lower than that of the past year. Commerce minister Tipu Munshi on July 29 announced cowhide price at Tk 35-40 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 28-32 a square foot for outside.

The price of castrated-goatskin was set at Tk 13-15 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 10-12 a square foot across the country.

News Courtesy: www.newagebd.net