Rawhide was sold almost twice at the fixed price at Jessore’s Rajarhat, the biggest market in the country’s south-west zone on Saturday, sparking fears that it might be smuggled into India.
Rawhide trading was not vibrant on the day after Eid-ul-Azha, but on Saturday, there prevailed quite a bullish trend when rawhide was sold at over Tk50 crores.
The Border Guard Bangladesh however said they were on the highest alert to such smuggling and so there was no scope for sending any rawhide out of the country.
Tannery owners had the price of cowhides at Tk60 to 65 and that of goats at Tk30 to 35 per square foot depending on its quality before this Eid. However, rawhide was sold at a price up by Tk40 to 50 from the fixed price on Saturday.
Allegations have it that rawhide smugglers had provided a section of capital crunch-hit and dishonest rawhide traders with huge money well before Eid so that they could get hold of the amount of rawhide they wanted at any cost.
A rawhide trader who came here from Dhaka, Hazi Hasan Kalu, said there was no difference between the price of rawhide in the domestic market and that in the global market because rawhide price on the global market was as much as Tk60 to 70.
“But speculators have forced up the prices of rawhide and so I cannot get my courage up to buy it at the inflated price. It would not be any problem if market price was up by Tk10 to 20 from the fixed one. I am quite unwilling to buy it at such a price now.”
Seeking anonymity, two traders who came here from Pabna and Faridpur, said they had bought rawhide at higher price and so tannery owners had to buy it from them at much higher price.
They must buy rawhide at the much higher price providing that they need it. If they balk at buying it at the expected price, it would be smuggled into India, they said.
Meanwhile, SAF Leather Industries’ Leather Purchasing Officer Akbar Ali Tukun said some tannery owners had already bought rawhide at the inflated price from this market.
“Market rawhide price was jaw-dropping. Yet I bought it at Tk110 as per the orders of the owners,” he said.
Greater Jessore Rawhide Traders’ Association General Secretary Alauddin Mukul said tannery owners-fixed price was quite unfair because it was not traders friendly at all.
“There are more than 10000 people involved in the rawhide business in this market. They would lose their capital in case they sell the rawhide at the price the tannery owners have fixed by the government.”
Jessore BGB Battalion 26 Commander Lieutenant Colonel Jahangir Alam said they would be on the highest alert on the border as long as there was a fear of rawhide being smuggled into India.
BGB South-West Region Captain (acting) Lieutenant Colonel Gazi Mohammad Asaduzzaman said they would show zero tolerance to the smuggling of rawhide.
