Raw hide has sold at the lowest rate in 31 years; not getting enough price for hides from sacrificed animals, many have buried the skins.
A rumour is swirling that a ‘skin syndicate’ has been active behind the scene to influence the fall of the price of hides.
Meanwhile, Road Transport and Bridges Minister Obaidul Quader has said that the matter will be assessed neutrally.
President of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants’ Association, Delwar Hossain, has advised the formation of a powerful task force to find the syndicate. He said: “Tannery owners formed a syndicate, did not pay the dues and therefore, we could not buy hides.”
On the other hand, tannery owners blame the merchants, saying: “They have formed a syndicate.”
The price of hide for a Tk 80,000 cow sold for Tk 200, which is very low. In many cases, merchants refused to buy hides at all.
In frustration, many seasonal sellers of hide, left the skins on the road and left.
In such a situation, the ministry of commerce gave the permission to export raw hide but citing a possible collapse in the industry, the Tanners’ Association asked for the revocation of the decision.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners’ Association, Shahin Ahmed, said: “The merchants/hoarders are responsible for the low price of hides this year; on the excuse that dues were not paid, a section of unscrupulous merchants have brought down the price.”
Delwar Hossain of the Skin Merchants’ Association observes: “The tannery owners have business worth thousands of crores; they run the syndicate; since they did not pay the dues we could not buy rawhide this year.”
General Secretary of the Bangladesh Tanners’ Association, Sakhawat Ullah, observes: “We did not get any loan from banks this year; if they had given us money then this crisis would not have taken place.”
The same cause is echoed by general secretary of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants’ Association, Tipu Sultan: “We get more than Tk 3 billion from tannery owners and, this year, did not get any payment; of around 250 hoarders, only 20 to 30 persons managed to but hides; as a result, the price has fallen.”
Reportedly the salt traders syndicate is also behind the fall of the price this year as price of salt suddenly doubled. On Eid night, one 60 kg sack of salt sold for Tk 1,250 which was half a week earlier.
Relevant people in Chhatra League say that in the past, due to the influence of Chhatra League and Jubo League, general traders could not buy hides properly. Several traders allege that Jubo League leaders forced them to buy hide at rates fixed by them, which created a negative impact later on.
In Bangladesh, 2.5 billion square feet of hide is processed every year at 220 tanneries. Of this, 63.98 are cow hides.