This year, Eid-ul-Adha witnessed an unprecedented price disorder in the procurement of rawhides of the sacrificial animals allegedly due to the intervention of an unscrupulous syndicate. Tanners and seasonal rawhide traders blamed the syndicate as price of cattle rawhide began to drop on the evening of Eid Day. The unprecedented low price reportedly made tens of thousands people across the country suffer while many even took the drastic decision to bury the items after they failed to get minimum prices for them. Reportedly, Tk 100 crore worth of rawhides has been dumped on the roads because there is no demand for these skins at the government fixed rates.
The government had fixed the price of raw hides ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha after consulting the traders, but the price drastically came down causing sufferings to the people, devotees and others small raw hide traders who purchased hides and skin. Now the question how could authorities fix prices at a level which was not followed by any party?
The syndicate responsible for the
collapse in raw hide market must
be identified and punished
Half the cattle slaughtered in Bangladesh throughout the year are sacrificed during Eid-ul-Adha. As we knew from the previous year that about 1 crore cattle would be sacrificed during this Eid, collapse of prices came as a complete bolt from the blue. The supply chain of rawhides starts with seasonal traders purchasing individual hides. These are then bought by merchants or wholesalers who in turn supply to the tanners. But this year we have seen a sudden lack of interest on the part of the merchants in procuring raw hides, which has left seasonal traders with no option other than destroying the hides. According to tanners, they paid merchants between Tk 30 and Tk 35 crore. Tanners pay merchants in phases. According to Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants’ Association, it is owed about Tk 400 crore in arrears as of August 14. But the tanners’ association rebutted this claim saying that Tk 150 crore has been paid to merchants. Even if we were to take the tanners’ claim to be true, that still leaves a few hundred crores in unpaid dues.
However, another reason for tanners’ lack of interest in procuring rawhides this year comes from the fact that the tanneries already had some stock of raw hide. Authorities concerned should have taken all these factors into consideration prior to Eid. Also concerned ministry should have taken necessary measures to ensure smooth operation of the entire supply chain. We hope we would not have to afford a repetition of this situation next year. Last but not the least, the syndicate responsible for the collapse in raw hide market must be identified and punished.
