In the first two days of Eid-ul-Azha, tanners in Bangladesh obtained almost 5 lakh pieces of rawhide.
On Wednesday at a news conference held at the Dhanmondi Convention Hall in Dhanmondi, the information was revealed by Md Shaheen Ahamed, the chairman of the Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA).
“We have so far procured about 4.75 lakh pieces of rawhides,” he said.
If the quality was good, he continued, they were buying rawhides at the Government-set rate.
The association’s goal for this year is to purchase 80 lakh rawhide pieces, which is less than the 10 lakh pieces that were acquired the year before.
Ahamed, also the managing director of Anjuman Trading Corporation, thanked the concerted efforts of the Government, the local administration and tannery owners for the smooth collection and preservation of rawhides. The transportation system has also improved this Eid, he said. “Furthermore, there has been a positive change in applying salt to the rawhides on time,” he added.
The price of salt-treated cowhides was fixed by the Government on 3rd June at Taka 55–60 per square foot (sq.ft.) in the capital and Taka 50–55 per sq.ft. outside of it.
The cost was Taka 47–52 per square foot outside of the capital and Taka 50–55 per square foot in Dhaka last year.
Approximately half of all the rawhides collected annually are accounted for by Eid-ul-Azha, one of the most important religious festivals for the Muslim community in the nation. This provides a substantial number of raw materials for the billion-dollar leather and leather goods export industry in the nation.
Bank loans totaling about Taka 270 crore have been given to tanning businesses to purchase and store rawhide. Traders sought loans totaling about Taka 500 crore last year, but only received Taka 259 crore.