Even ten years ago, a large size goat skin was sold for Tk400-450. At that time tannery owners used to buy goat skin for Tk500.
However, now the situation is reversed. Currently, despite the huge demand of goat skin in the global market, it has become worthless in Bangladesh.
It was seen on the day of Eid on Thursday, like the last three years, that the merchants were not interested in skin of the goat.
Due to the small size and higher cost per skin than the price set by the government, traders are not interested in buying goat skin. Not only in the capital, but all over the country, the goat skin sellers did not get any price.
While it costs about Tk10 for a cup of tea, this year's Eid-ul-Azha, it was seen in most places that each piece of goat skin was sold for only Tk5 or less. In many places there were no buyers for leather.
Goat skin was sold at the price of Tk10 in Bagha of Rajshahi. In Nilphamari, it was only Tk25.
On the surface, it has been seen that the tanners and tannery owners have no interest in goat skin. In many cases they did not bargain for goat skins. Because of this, many sellers throw away goat skins, or sell them at a nominal price.
The teachers of a madrasa came to the Science Lab area with 10 goat skins from Kalyanpur in the capital. They took this skin to six buyers one after another. But none of them showed interest to buy. Later, a buyer offered to pay only Tk30 for 10 skins.
When asked why the price of goat skin is so inexpensive, the shopkeepers of Posta area said: “Even if you buy a skin for Tk10, you need to spend about Tk60 in total. But tanneries do not fetch more than Tk20-30 during sale. That's why no one wants to buy goat skin now.”
Merchants said that the reason for not taking the skin of the goat after the sacrifice on Thursday was that one skin of the goat requires three kilograms of salt which costs Tk30. Adding labour and transportation costs with this makes a total of Tk60. As such, the cost of goat skin is higher than the government's prescribed measure.
Leather products made from animal skin, like a lady's handbag, sell for a minimum of Tk1,500-2,000 in the local market. Entrepreneurs acquire three square feet of leather from tanneries at Tk100-250 per square foot for manufacturing such bags, while the price of a single goat skin is barely Tk50.
Saiful Islam, the former president of Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh, said that every year 2-3 million goat skins are collected in addition to cow skins during Eid-ul-Azha.
However, the sacrificers said that they have been in trouble for the past few years with goat skin.
According to economic analysts, the global demand for leather is currently slightly lower, but prices of leather products have not fallen.
In this regard, Policy Research Institute Executive Director Ahsan H Mansoor said: “In addition to the government, the entrepreneurs of the private sector should pay attention to the leather industry. Domestic and foreign investors should be increased in this sector. If Tk30-40,000 crores of investment can be brought in this sector through 30 to 40 foreign investors after rescuing the existing investors from mismanagement, there will be radical changes in the country's leather sector.”
According to Bangladesh Tanners Association, the global leather market is worth $420 billion. In 2032, its market will be $735 billion. The global market is growing at a rate of about 6%. Bangladesh aims to export leather and leather products worth $10 billion by 2030, up from $1 billion at present