Like previous year, Sydur Rahman in Shariatpur district had to bury his sacrificed goat’s rawhide under the ground as he did not get any buyer for it during the Eid ul Azha this year too.

“Once, buyers came to our home and offered payment even before we slaughtered the animal for sacrifice. It meant that the demand for rawhide was high then. But now we do not get buyers to sell the cattle skins. Traders offer low prices for cow skins and pay nothing for goat skins,” he said, adding that he could not even donate the rawhide to a madrasah as it had no value.

Thousands of Muslim devotees across the country buried or threw away the skins of their sacrificed goats as there was no demand for the rawhide of that animal in the country. Meanwhile many other people complained that they got a very low price for the rawhides of their sacrificed cows.

The government set a price of goat hide at Tk20-25 per square foot for male goats and Tk18-20 per square foot for female goats, But buyers did not follow the directive.

Shibpur Kacharibazar Hafezia Madrasah’s Principal Mukaddesur Rahman said he sold 37 cows’ rawhides at Tk700 each on an average to local traders.

“We got the same price as we got last year. We could not sell any goat skin to buyers due to lack of demand in the market. Buyers took our goat skins without making any payment,” he said.

Muhtamim of Markazun Nur Islamia Madrasah at Keraniganj Mufti Monir Hossain said he sold 47 cow skins at Tk730 each.

“Our major source of income is collecting cattle rawhides during Eid ul Azha. Due to the low demand of the sacrificed animals’ skins in the market, we have to face challenges in operating the institution,” he added.

Earlier, the government fixed the prices of the salt-applied rawhides of cows at Tk55-60 per square foot in Dhaka and Tk50-55 per square foot across the country.

Seasonal traders disappointed

Seasonal rawhide traders expressed their disappointment over not getting fair prices from wholesalers.

Abdul Hamid from Chattogram claimed that he bought 250 rawhides of different sizes at Tk450 each on an average. But wholesalers agreed to pay only Tk100 per piece of skin.

“I am very shocked to see the rawhide prices, but we can do nothing. Like me, many seasonal traders were disappointed,” he also claimed.

Talking to the Daily Sun, Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association Secretary General Md Tipu Sultan said, “If we count our overall costs, our purchase price of the sacrificial animals’ rawhides is similar to the prices fixed by the government. This year, we purchased the rawhides at rates between Tk400 and Tk900.”

He said they purchased large-sized skins at Tk800-Tk900, medium-sized skins at Tk600-Tk700 and small-sized skins at Tk400-Tk450 each. The prices are a little more than previous year.

“We avoid goat skins as the demand for those skins is low in the international market. Artificial leather helped to reduce the demand for the item,” he said.

Tipu Sultan expressed his hope that the country’s leather industry will get invigorated by the next two or four years, if the tannery industrial estate at Savar is completed and the country gets the Leather Working Group’s certificate. “Then, we will be able to export our rawhides at fair prices in the international market,” he said.

He also informed this reporter that they collected one lakh pieces of rawhides at Postha area in Old Dhaka.

Lacking LWG certification hinders leather industry

Bangladesh Traders Association (BTA) Chairman Md Shaheen Ahamed said the country’s leather industry is struggling due to a lack of certification from the International Leather Working Group (LWG).

“Several factors related to collecting, preserving and transporting rawhides are also responsible for the industry’s stagnation,” he said.

“The incomplete Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), essential for meeting international environmental standards, is creating the main complication in achieving this certification. This deficiency has hindered the sector’s ability to compete in the international market,” he said.

Talking to reporters during a press conference on Wednesday, Shaheen said moving tanneries from Hazaribagh to Savar and several global crises during and after the COVID-19 pandemic had a bad impact on the leather industry.

The BTA chairman also said around 80 lakh pieces of rawhides were preserved with salt across the country during the Eid season, with over 4.75 lakh pieces collected at the Savar leather industrial zone.

“A lot of rawhides were damaged in three days as unskilled workers processed them. Quality of leather depends on proper skinning, collection and storage methods,” he said.

A total of 1.07 crore animals were sacrificed this year. Around 1 lakh tonnes of salt are required to preserve their rawhides, according to the Department of Livestock Services.