Syndicate reins in hide price
Workers spray salt on rawhides of sacrificial animals at a hide wholesale centre at Aturer Depot in the port city.Photo: STAR
The price of rawhides of sacrificial animals marked a drastic fall in Chittagong this year due to a 'syndicate' of seasonal traders, said the wholesalers and tannery owners. A huge quantity of unsold stock, decrease in demand of rawhides in the international markets, worldwide recession and non-payment of outstanding bills were behind the downtrend of the price of rawhides. The field level hide collectors collected cowhides mostly between Tk 300 to Tk 700 almost half of the previous year. Sexagenarian Mohammad Alauddin of Dewanhat in the port city said he has witnessed the lowest price of rawhides this year. “We have sold a piece of rawhide at Tk 700 of a cow of Tk 45,000 this year while it was Tk 1,000 of a Tk 30,000 cow last year,” Alauddin said, adding that the price offered last year was also around half of that of 2007. Abdul Mannan of city's Khulshi area said he has sold rawhide at Tk 400 of an ox of Tk 38,000. He said the poor, the main claimants of the money, were deprived of their rights due to fall in hide prices this year. Sources said a total of three lakh rawhides, including 2.5 lakh of cows and 50,000 of goats, from Chittagong, Cox's Bazar and three hill districts of Rangamati, Khagrachhari and Bandarban have been preserved at 150 Arats (Warehouses) in the port city. Abu Toyub, proprietor of Shah Amanat Kancha Chamra Arat at Aturar Depot, said field level traders bought most of the rawhides between Tk 300 and Tk 700 and they sold those between Tk 700 and Tk 900 to the middlemen who later sold them between Tk 1,000 and Tk 1,200 to the wholesalers. The field level traders and the middlemen did a good business making 'syndicate' this year, Toyub alleged. Islami Agency Proprietor Anisur Rahman said they had to buy per 74kg sack of salt at Tk 470 which was Tk 350 before Eid. They are also to spend additional money for the staffs who are working for preserving rawhides, he said. When asked, Chittagong City Corporation Kancha Chamra Aratdar Samity President Mohammad Muslim Uddin said tannery owners have told them to buy rawhides between Tk 25 and Tk 30 per square foot. But they had to buy hides betwwn Tk 30 and Tk 35 per square foot while it will cost Tk 40 to Tk 45 after processing. He blamed a “syndicate” of the field level traders for drastic fall in rawhide prices this year. He said six of eight tanneries in the port city faced closure due to decreasing demand of hides and they yet to get around Tk 15 crore arrear bills of 2007 from tannery owners in Dhaka. The selling price can be ascertained after arrival of buyers from the capital next week, Muslim said. Madina Tannery Proprietor Abu Mohammad echoed Muslim saying that the field level traders and middlemen are responsible for the drastic fall in hide price this year. He said little demand for quality hides and huge stock of unsold hides are the main reason behind the falling trend of demand.
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