A file photo shows a group of men loading cowhides on a van in Dhaka. The government on Tuesday kept prices of rawhides of animals to be sacrificed during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha same as last year despite increase in prices of all products, including cow, in last one year. — New Age photo
The government on Tuesday kept prices of rawhides of animals to be sacrificed during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha same as last year despite increase in prices of all products, including cow, in last one year.
Commerce minister Tipu Munshi announced that the prices of cowhide would be Tk 45-50 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 35-40 a square foot for outside Dhaka.
Although the government retained the prices of rawhide same as last year, the prices would still be seven-year low.
Prices of sacrificial animals, especially cows, have doubled in last seven years.
Tipu declared rawhide the prices following a meeting with leaders of Bangladesh Tanners’ Association, Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leathergoods and Footwear Exporters’ Association and Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants’ Association held at the ministry.
Despite 5.8 per cent annual inflation rate and increase of the prices of all commodities including leather products, the government set prices of rawhide unchanged with the prices of last year as tanners proposed to decrease the prices.
The buying prices of castrated-goat skin has been set at Tk 18-20 a square foot and that of goatskin at Tk 13-15 a square foot across the country.
Like the previous years, rawhide traders proposed to decrease the prices of the item by 40 per cent from the prices that was set in last year showing excuse of export declining.
Opposing the proposal of tanners, commerce secretary Md Mofizur Rahman said that prices of rawhide was lowest in Bangladesh across the world and it would not be a good decision to decrease the prices further this year.
Bangladesh Tanners Association chairman Md Shaheen Ahmed, Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leathergoods & Footwear Exporters Association president Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahin and Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants’ Association president Md Delwar Hossain, among others, spoke at the meeting.
In the meeting, Delwar proposed to allow rawhide export saying that the price of the item was much higher in India than Bangladesh and if the government allow export, Bangladesh would be benefited.
According to the statistics, the government and traders have been cutting prices of rawhides of sacrificial animals every year since 2013 and the price of cowhide decreased by 47.36 per cent and that of goatskin fell by 63.63 per cent in last seven years while the prices of sacrificial animals almost doubled in the period.
Last year, the government had set cowhide price at Tk 45-50 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 35-40 a square foot for outside of Dhaka. The price of castrated-goat skin was set at Tk 18-20 a square foot and that of goatskin at Tk 13-15 a square foot across the country.
In the name of bringing discipline to the rawhide market, tanners started setting the prices of rawhides from 2013.
According to the sector leaders, in the years of 2011 and 2012 tanners did not set the prices of rawhides of the sacrificial animals and the market price of cowhide was Tk 110-120 a square foot across the country in the years.
Since 2013, tanners have been cutting the prices of rawhides of sacrificial animals every year on flimsy pretext of fall in the prices of the item on the international market and high cost of relocation of tanneries.
In 2014, tanners had set the price of per square foot of cowhide at Tk 70-75 in Dhaka and Tk 60-65 for outside Dhaka, goatskin at Tk 30-35 and buffalo skin at Tk 35-40 while they had set the price of per square foot of cowhide at Tk 85-95 in Dhaka and Tk 75-80 for outside the capital, goatskin for Tk 50-55 and buffalo skin for Tk 40-45 in the year 2013.
In 2015, tanners had set the prices of cowhide at Tk 50-55 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 40-45 a square foot for outside Dhaka, which was 26-28 per cent lower than the prices set in 2014.
In 2016, tanners had set the prices of cowhide at Tk 50 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 40 a square foot for outside Dhaka, castrated-goat skin at Tk 20-22 a square foot and that of goatskin at Tk 15-17 a square foot, which was 10 per cent lower than the prices set in 2015.
In 2017, the government had set cowhide price at Tk 50-55 a square foot in Dhaka and Tk 40-45 a square foot for outside of Dhaka. The price of castrated-goat skin was set at Tk 20-22 a square foot and that of goatskin at Tk 15-17 a square foot across the country.
Source: New Age.