4.5 lakh pieces of rawhide collected on Eid day: Bangladesh Tanners Association
About 4.5 lakh pieces of rawhide have been collected on Eid day till 9pm and preserved with salt in Savar Leather Industrial City, said Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA).
"Four lakh pieces of rawhide have been preserved with salt in Savar industrial city. This time we did not get the news of rawhide getting damaged. After a week we will collect the salted rawhides," BTA General Secretary Md Sakhawat Ullah told The Business Standard on Monday (11 July).
"Our target was to collect one crore pieces of rawhides. I visited the market yesterday and saw that our collection target will be met. As far as we know, there is no news of any rawhides getting damaged anywhere. This time everyone was ready. The Ministry of Industry and Commerce has been monitoring all the time," he added.
Rawhides have been bought in Dhaka so far for Tk750-800, said Md Sakhawat Ullah.
"Traders in Chattogram had set a target of collecting four lakh pieces of rawhides this Eid. They are said to have met that target collection. Those are being preserved with salt. After 15 to 20 days traders will sell the rawhides to the tannery owners in Dhaka," he added.
Aftab Khan, president of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants' Association, said they had set a target of collecting less than 1 lakh raw hides this year due to the extreme heat, which they had already collected.
Seasonal traders brought raw hides from different parts of the country for sale in Posta of Old Dhaka. Traders are buying cattle hides from them at Tk700 to Tk800 per piece.
However, the seasonal traders claimed that the traders are not buying rawhides of goats and small ones of cows.
Mohammad Sumon brought 120 goat hides in Posta but he could not sell any.
"Buyers are offering Tk5 for each piece. Is it possible to sell at this rate?, asked Sumon.
Workers who processed goat rawhides are not available here. They have migrated to Hemayetpur, Aminbazar or Hazaribag. That is why merchants are not buying goat hides, said a trader in Posta.
Meanwhile, Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association General Secretary Tipu Sultan told The Business Standard that the prices of rawhides are good this year.
"We bought a piece of rawhide for Tk800 on average," he added.
This year, the price of salted cow rawhide is fixed at Tk47-52 per sq ft in Dhaka and Tk40-44 outside Dhaka.
Besides, the price of goat hide has been set at Tk18-20 per sq ft while it is Tk12-14 per sq ft for female goat hide across the country.
Last year, the price of salted cow rawhide was fixed at Tk40-45 per square foot in Dhaka and Tk33-37 per square foot outside of the capital. The price of goat hide was set at Tk15-17 per square foot.