The commerce ministry on Tuesday asked traders for setting a minimum and reasonable price of rawhide from sacrificial animals to be collected during coming Eid-ul-Azha so that people can get a fair price of the product, officials said. Fixing a reasonable price for per square feet of rawhide in consistent with international market will also prevent the item from being smuggled into neighboring India, they said.
‘We asked them for setting the buying price of the product so that nobody can devalue the item artificially for excessive profits and people are not deprived of getting a fair price of rawhide,’ a high official of the ministry told New Age after a meeting with traders held at the ministry.
In last two years, people were deprived of getting a fair price of rawhide as traders did not set the minimum value of the product, he said.
He said, ‘We hope the price of rawhide will be higher than that of last year because of increasing price of the product in the global market and growing demand of leather and leather goods from Bangladesh.’
At the meeting, traders assured that they would set the minimum price for per square feet of rawhide of cow, goat and other sacrificial animals on October 12 after holding meetings with stakeholders and analysing the international market price.
Expressing concern over possible smuggling of the item, they also urged the government for taking necessary measures to prevent smuggling.
Quoting commerce minister GM Quader, commerce ministry officials said that the government would seriously consider for allowing rawhide export if traders do not ensure fair price of the item.
‘We conveyed the message of the minister to the traders,’ another official said.
He said that dishonest traders and middlemen involved in the rawhide business engage in competition to collect the product at lower price to make excessive profits.
They also smuggle the product to India and that is why genuine businessmen fail to collect sufficient rawhide for running their industries.
Bangladesh Tanners Association has set a target of collecting 130 million square feet of rawhide in the coming Eid-ul-Azha, which is more than 55 per cent of total demand in the country.
They are expecting to collect at least 70 lakh pieces of rawhides of sacrificial animals during this Eid.
At the meeting, traders expressed concern that there was higher possibility of rawhides being smuggled to India because of depreciation of Rupee, the Indian currency, and appreciation of Taka against the dollar.
They urged the government for tight security in the border areas and additional checks on trucks on the highways so that no rawhide cannot be transported to the border areas, particularly from Dhaka.
Commerce ministry officials said that the government has already instructed the Border Guard Bangladesh and Bangladesh Police to remain alert for at least 20 days from the Eid-day to stop smuggling of rawhide to India.
Commerce ministry additional secretary ATM Mortoza Reza Chowdhury presided over the meeting while representatives from Bangladesh Finished Leather and Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association, Bangladesh Tanners Association, Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchant Association, among others, attended.
-With New Age input
