The Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA) has reportedly expressed fear that rawhides of animals sacrificed this Eid-ul-Adha (September 2) might be on their way to neighbouring countries illegally.
“We’ve not been able to purchase even 2.5 million pieces of rawhides in the last couple of days. We had bought around 5 million pieces of rawhides last year during the same period,” BTA Vice-Chairman Haji Eliasur Rahman (Babul) complained.
The seasonal traders, middlemen and politically influential groups are forcing people to sell rawhides at relatively lower prices without any regard for the Government-fixed prices, a BTA official informed reporters in Dhaka recently.
The BTA has demanded a greater vigilance in the border areas for at least a month to prevent any smuggling of rawhides from the country.
Meanwhile, the traders in the Posta area (the largest wholesale market for animal hide and skin in the country) have claimed that supply of rawhides this year has almost halved compared to previous years.
“So far we have collected 350,000 pieces of cowhide. Last year, the collection of cowhide was over half a million pieces,” Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchant Association Chairman Delwar Hossain maintained.
The traders indicate that tannery owners have reportedly engaged representatives to buy rawhides and skins from the seasonal and small suppliers directly.
Additionally, the price of rawhides has dropped by more than 30 per cent compared to last year. The price drop is the outcome of tanners’ failure of paying the hide merchants their dues before Eid-ul-Adha owing to funds shortage.
