Commerce Minister Tofail Ahmed yesterday asked the rawhide traders to fix the prices of rawhide of sacrificial animals by Friday, considering the global market price.
The rawhide traders had long been reluctant to set the prices of hides, reasoning that their prices are falling in the international market.
But sources said the international market witnesses a rising demand of animals' hides.
The instruction of the minister came at a meeting with the leaders of Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA), Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchant Association and Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters’ Association at his secretariat yesterday.
“From the government side, we do not want to fix the prices of rawhide, he said, adding that it would be better if you set it, so people can get reasonable price and you can also make some profits.”
Tofail, also, called for the traders to disseminate the prices of hides through SMS among the traders at grass roots level after fixing it on Friday.
The government has taken necessary steps to prevent the smuggling of rawhide and directed the police and Boarder Guard Bangladesh (BGB) to launch strict vigilance across the borders for one month after the Eid, he added.
He urged the traders to set a better price for hides as the money is distributed to orphanages and the poor.
Despite preliminary opposition from the tanners to fixing rawhide prices, the businessmen, however, agreed in the face of government pressure, said a source of the meeting.
Seeking anonymity, the source said the minister argued that if the prices are not set, there would be a possibility to smuggle the rawhide into the neighboring country.
“We are not in favour of fixing price of the sacrificial animals' hides,” Bangladesh Tanners’ Association Chairman Shaheen Ahmed said.
He gave the version that in the first two months of the current fiscal, the prices of rawhide in the global market declined by around 25% while the country failed to reach the export target set by the government.
The traders at grass roots level create problems when buying normal hides at the rate of salted-hide price, added Saheen.
Last year, the hide prices were set at Tk85-Tk90 per square foot for Dhaka and Tk75-Tk80 for areas outside the capital.
A square foot of rawhide of cows was set at Tk85-Tk90 in Dhaka and Tk75-Tk80 in other areas while per square foot prices of hides of bullocks had been set at Tk50-Tk55, goat at Tk40-Tk45 and buffalo at Tk40-Tk45 for throughout the country.
Senior Secretary Hedayetullah Al Mamoon to the Commerce Ministry, Tariff Commission Chairman and acting Secretary M Azizur Rahman, EPB Vice-Chairman Shubhashis Bose, BTA General Secretary M Mosharraf Hossain, Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchant Association Chairman Ali Hossain, Bangladesh Finished Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters' Association Vice-President Majibur Rahman and General Secretary M Zoynal Abedin, among others, were present at the meeting.
