A huge quantity of animal hides gets damaged every year due to lack of facilities for processing rawhides in the region. Due to the same reason, local hide traders compelled to sell out the rawhides to the tanners in the capital on credit. Sources said local traders are financially hard hit as it happens every year, especially during the Eid-ul-Azha, and many traders are closing down their business. Traders said around Tk 40 million had long been lying unpaid by the tannery owners in Dhaka, Chittagong and Khulna. Ashraf Ali, president of Rajarhat Hide Businesses Association, said over 250,000 animals are sacrificed in the region during the Eid every year but for lack of adequate preserving and processing facilities, a large quantity hides are getting damaged. This year, small hide traders and middlemen incurred huge loss as they did not bring their products to the market, fearing heavy loss and hoarding in their own way to sell out in a fair price or to smuggle out to India in a convenience time, he added. Failing to cope with the situation, many traders have already given up the pofession, claimed the hide association leaders, demanding their arrears as soon as possible. On the other hand, this year small traders had to buy rawhides at higher prices than the fixed rates set by the tanners. Moreover the cost of rawhide preservation materials also has gone up this year. A number of traders informed, the rates set by the government and tannery association are just impractical and unjust this time. However, the smuggling was almost contained this year, as the law enforcers were strictly overseeing transportation of the item on the post-Eid days. Local traders can preserve the rawhides for about two months, said Alauddin Mukul, general secretary of Hide Merchants Association. He demanded re-evaluation of hide prices for sake of retailers before getting damaged of the items. Rabiul Islam, a rawhide trader at Rajarhat, said, “This has put us at risk of loss as well. If the tannery owners don’t increase the price immediately, we are sure to incur huge loss,” The traders also fear that the rawhides that are not in the market may get smuggled to India for a higher price. Abdul Malek, general secretary of Rajarhat Hide Merchants’ Welfare Association, urged the concerned authorities to set up a rawhides processing plant at the second largest trading hub of the country to boost up the trade.
