Small and seasonal rawhide traders across the country are in fear of huge losses as they had to buy rawhides at high prices while tanners set low prices of rawhides this year, the people involved with the trade said. Small traders alleged that despite high demand on the local and international markets every year the owners of big tanneries set low prices of rawhides during the Eid-ul-Azha to make extra profit.
The owners of tanneries, however, said that they have been forced to set the pries of rawhides lower than last year due to declining demand for the commodity on the international market.
They said that the prices of rawhides are usually set based on the international market and every year tanners set reasonable prices of the item so that people can get fair prices and traders do not incur losses.
‘But some seasonal traders create problems through buying the item with high prices. And also this year they have bought the item with high prices across the country,’ a leader of Bangladesh Tanners Association told New Age.
He said that the seasonal traders raised an allegation that tanners were making excessive profit as they (the seasonal traders) had no proper knowledge about the rawhide market.
Near about one crore animals were sacrificed in this year’s Eid-ul-Azha celebrated on Monday and Bangladesh Tanners’ Association is expecting to collect about 80 lakh of rawhides from the sacrificial animals across the country.
This year traders set the maximum price of cow rawhides at Tk 70-Tk 75 a square feet in Dhaka and Tk 60-Tk 65 for outside of the city. The price is lower by Tk 15 a square feet than the price set in the last year.
Last year, the price of cow rawhides was set at Tk 85-Tk 90 a square feet for Dhaka and Tk 75-Tk 80 a square feet for the outside of the capital.
This year traders set the buying prices of goatskin at Tk 30-Tk 35 a square feet and buffalo hide at Tk 40-Tk 45 a square feet.
Raj Kumar Das, a small rawhide trader at Razar Hut in Jessore, said that the tanners set the prices of cow hide at Tk 60-Tk 65 a square feet but he had to buy the item at Tk 75-Tk 80 a square feet as the market price was high than the prices set by the tanners.
‘The owners of tanneries never incur losses through buying rawhides during Eid-ul-Azha as they set the prices lower than the actual market price but the small traders have to face problems as they have to buy the items with the actual market prices.’
Raj Kumar bought more than 500 pieces of cowhide with high prices and now fears of huge loss as the representatives of tanners are not willing to increase the prices.
‘I have bought cowhide on an average Tk 1,800 a piece but the representatives of big traders are offerings Tk 1,500 a piece following the tanners-set prices, Raj Kumar said.
Following Eid-ul-Azha, in last two days, the supply of rawhides was available in the different markets in the country but traders do not sell the item due to low prices.
The small traders are waiting so that they can avoid loss but tanners are not willing to pay more than the set prices.
‘Seasonal and small traders are creating a bad situation through buying rawhides with high prices and they will have to incur loss,’ Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters’ Association chairman Abu Taher told New Age.
He said that many western buyers had already informed that they could not import leather from Bangladesh due to environmental issue.
Buyers from European Union also expressed their concern over the lather industry of Bangladesh as the plants are not environment friendly, Taher said.
‘Relocation of tanners is the main challenge for the sustainability of the sector and to do this the entrepreneurs need loan and aid,’ he said.
Under this circumstance, tanners have no scope to set the price of rawhide high, Taher added.
A leader Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association of Bangladesh said that every year the tanners set low prices of rawhide citing the excuse of low prices on the international market but the prices of finished leather were increasing gradually.
The prices set by the tanners were not effective as most of the traders had bought hide with higher prices, he said.
Santosh Kumar, a trader at Rajshahi, said that they were apprehending huge hide smuggling along the Rajshahi border as agents of Indian traders were purchasing good quantity of the item with high prices.
The issue has become a serious concern for the traders as the hide traders of Bangladesh set lower prices for the item, he said.
‘Setting low prices of hide is nothing but a ploy of the rawhide traders to gain excessive profit and to drive away the small traders from the market to make the business a monopoly,’ he said.
Abu Taher said that this is the government responsibility to check smuggling but the traders could not purchase the rawhide with high prices.
-With New Age input
