THE management of the Eid-time, seasonal rawhide market, said to be accounting for 40–50 per cent of the yearly raw leather supply, has run into problems, not unexpectedly though, as it has done in the past. The government mandates prices. Small-time collectors buy the hide on the ground and sell it to seasonal traders. And seasonal traders sell the hide to tanners or warehouse owners. Small-time collectors and seasonal traders have in many cases left the animal hides by the road and on the ground. They have even buried the hides and dumped them into rivers in many districts. Small-time collectors and seasonal traders have done this out of disappointment as the hide prices that they are offered did not match the prices that the government mandated. The government on May 13 set the prices. Salted cowhide would sell for Tk 62–67 a square foot in Dhaka and for Tk 57–62 in outlying areas. The salted hide of castrated bucks would sell for Tk 25–30 and that of does for Tk 22–25 a square foot. The government was to supply the salt free through the upazila and the district administration.

Industry estimation suggests that the salted hide of a small cow should fetch Tk 990–1,200, that of a medium-sized cow Tk 1,300–1,850 and that of a large cow Tk 1,900–2,600. But cowhide prices ranged between Tk 400 and Tk 900 depending on the size in the capital city whilst the situation in outlying areas was disappointing for collectors and traders. Goat hide was unwelcome and, in some cases, buyers offered only Tk 5–10 a piece. Whilst tanners and warehouse owners, who have blamed seasonal traders for failing to maintain the hide, have brushed aside the allegations of offering low prices, the government seeks to say that the prices mandated are benchmark rates rather than mandatory prices. The commerce ministry also says that there is no mechanism to enforce the mandated prices as transactions are not monitored. The government is rather reported to be primarily focusing on the preservation, collection and other operational aspects of hide management. The allegations of tanners and warehouse owners that collectors and traders could not maintain the hide suggest that the government has failed in this regard, too. Such a proposition does not only harm orphanages, the poor and mosques that receive the sales proceeds of the rawhide of sacrificial animals, but also harms resources as a huge number of rawhides are wasted in the process.

The government’s not enforcing the prices that it mandates has earlier been noticed, especially since 2015, thought to be largely in collusion with tanners and warehouse owners. The government should, therefore, enforce rawhide prices to save the leather industry and resources.