Five/six years ago, seasonal and permanent traders used to go door to door to haggle over prices and buy rawhide. But after not getting a good price for several years, that tradition is changing.
Rawhide collection target for this year's Eid-ul-Adha was lower than last year, and there are concerns about whether even that target will be met. According to tanners, they are expecting to collect around 8.5 million pieces of rawhide this season, down from over 9.5 million last year.
As of June 10, a total of 2,526,233 rawhides have been preserved in six divisions in Dhaka and outside Dhaka, according to the sources of the Ministry of Commerce.
Among these 466,296 pieces of cow, buffalo, and goat hide of sacrificial animals have been delivered to Dhaka's Posta and Savar Chamra Shilpa Nagari.
Along with this, another 2,059,937 rawhides have been preserved in Rajshahi, Sylhet, Barisal, Rangpur, Khulna, and Chittagong.
The Ministry of Commerce was informed that preservation of rawhide has been sent to the control room from every division except Mymensingh.
They also said all these rawhides have been preserved with free salt provided by the government.
Regarding the lower rawhide collection target, Md Shaheen Ahamed, chairman of the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA), told Dhaka Tribune: “This year, we have a target of collecting 8.5 million pieces of leather. Last year, 9.5 million pieces were collected.”
“Although our primary target is 8.5 million, progress of rawhide collection seems to indicate that 8 million can be collected during Eid. The reason for the reduction in the target is that there have been fewer animal sacrifices this year than last year, and also inflation plays a big role here,” he explained.
Regarding government help, Shaheen Ahamed said: “Due to the government's salt support, the rawhide has not been destroyed in that way this time. I hope that even if the entire target is not achieved, it will be close.”
Among the whole collection of a year, 50% to 60% of the leather is collected during Eid-ul-Adha, he added.
According to a report by the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh annually supplies about 220 million square feet of leather.
More than 60% of this leather is supplied during the Eid al-Adha season. Of this, 64.83% is cowhide, 31.82% is goat hide, 2.25% is buffalo hide, and 1.2% is sheepskin.
According to seasonal traders, this business is not what it used to be due to the fear of losses; as a result, the collection of rawhide is going down gradually.
They are saying that the government fixes the price of salted leather every year. But it does not fix the price of leather without salt or rawhide, that is, hide with blood and flesh.
Consequently, they are unable to secure a fair price for this initial stage of leather production. Due to this, seasonal traders are disappearing day by day.
General people, unable to find buyers and out of religious values, donate leather to mosques, madrasas, and orphanages for free.
As a result, local traders force these institutions to sell leather at low prices.
According to the Department of Livestock Services (DLS), 9,136,734 animals were sacrificed this year, of which 4,705,106 were cows and buffaloes, 44,30,668 goats and sheep, and 960 were others.
