The spreading of anthrax and the people’s consequent avoidance of beef have reduced the slaughtering of cattle by more than 80 per cent in the past three or four weeks, said traders of hides.
The scarcity of cow skins, which make up at least three-fourths of the supply of local rawhides, has hit hard the business of hide processing in which thousands are employed throughout the country.
Due to the scarcity of rawhides, the manufacturers of finished leather and leather goods, who make nearly half a billion dollars in export earnings and have received many orders from importers in recent months, are also getting panicked.
Industry people fear that if anthrax is not contained before Eid-ul-Azha, which is just eight weeks ahead, its impact will be unbearable for the country’s economy in which the leather sector plays an important part.
Eid sacrifices usually account for more than 40 per cent of the annual supply of rawhides, so any diminution of demand for cattle at that time will be a dire blow to the leather sector.
Mohammed Aftab, president of the Bangladesh Hides and Skin Merchants Association, said that in the past one month the supply of cow skins declined to one-fifth of the amount in the normal period.
Eid-Ul-Fitr sacrifices usually provide around five lakh pieces of cow skins every year, Aftab estimated.
As the fear of anthrax increased further after Barat, enhanced avoidance of beef across the country in Eid-Ul-Fitr forced the number of slaughtered cows to plummet to around one lakh only, said Aftab, summing up reports from the rawhide suppliers in the major hubs across the country.
Faizur Rahman, a merchant at Posta which is the country’s largest hub of rawhides, told New Age that the declining supply of cow skins pushed up the prices of rawhides by around 30 per cent in the past one month.
Per square foot of cow skin, of various grades, was sold for Tk 95 to Tk 110 on Saturday at Posta against Tk 70 and Tk 85 in early August.
Prices of hides were satisfactory in the past few months due to the high demand of export-oriented tanners, said Faizur. ‘But the rising prices threaten, and may even stop, the leather business.’
Posta merchants informed New Age that livestock officials had a meeting with meat shop owners and hide merchants in the city on Thursday, and had asked them not to be panicked over anthrax.
Leaders of the butchers, however, told the meeting that some 5,000 cattle were usually slaughtered everyday in the capital and adjacent areas, but after Eid less than one thousand cattle were being slaughtered.
Leather industry estimates that country consumes beef worth around Tk 20,000 crore every year, with 5 million cows being slaughtered.
The business of processing hides and the leather trade generate more than Tk 5,000 crore every year, and the major portion of the leather is exported.
In the last fiscal year which ended in June, earning from exports of finished leather amounted $226 million (Tk 1,600 crore) and export of leather shoes and leather goods earned more Tk 1,400 crore.
MA Majed, executive director of the country’s largest tannery and finished leather exporter, Apex Tannery, told New Age that the worsening anthrax situation had already caused panic in the manufacturers of export-oriented leather and leather goods.
‘The industry is already reeling due to the rising prices of hides. Moreover, everyone is worried about Eid-Ul-Azha which provides 40 per cent of annual supply of hides,’ he said. ‘If anthrax is not contained before Eid, the low number of cattle sacrifices will kill the entire leather economy.’
Majed observed that number of anthrax-affected cattle is not so high considering the total population of cattle in the country, but widespread fears have frightened people into avoiding beef.
He said that the government should check the cattle to ensure slaughtering of unaffected cattle, and arrange all-out vaccination and treatment of cattle affected with anthrax, to restore the people’s confidence in beef.
