THE number of animals sacrificed this Eid-ul-Azha, which fell on June 17, was reasonably high considering the economic instability with unprecedented food inflation and a dollar shortage. But it did not bring economic relief to small-time rawhide traders. Although the government set prices for rawhide, the hide was sold at throwaway prices. The prices were low to the extent that seasonal traders, in many cases, chose to donate raw hides to madrassahs and other charitable organisations rather than salting them for a marginal profit. A seasonal trader in Dhaka collected 100 pieces of cowhide and sold them to the wholesale market at Posta for Tk 400鈥�500 apiece, which is much lower than the prices that the government set. Seasonal traders, who take the rawhide to wholesalers, are bearing the brunt of the poor enforcement of price regimes on the wholesale rawhide market. In 2020, the government鈥檚 failure prompted seasonal traders to throw rawhides into rivers and in dumps and to bury them. What is worrying is the government鈥檚 repeated failures as seasonal rawhide traders have faced similar situations for a couple years.
The government on June 3 set cowhide price of Tk 34鈥�40 a square foot for Dhaka, Tk 28鈥�30 a square foot for outlying districts and Tk 18鈥�20 a square foot for goathide. The prices were marginally higher than prices set in 2023. The government has also set the lowest price of a piece of salted cowhide at Tk 1,200 in Dhaka and Tk 1,000 outside Dhaka. The Tanners鈥� Association reports that as of June 19, tannery owners procured nearly 800,000 pieces of rawhide and the highest price was Tk 900 apiece. The Hide and Skin Merchants鈥� Association say that they procured cowhide for Tk 600鈥�800 apiece. The government appears to have failed to enforce the price regime. Tanners and wholesale businesses of rawhide blame field-level seasonal traders for buying the items for low prices. The seasonal traders blame syndicates of tannery owners for paying prices lower than what the government set. In the absence of strict monitoring and law enforcement against alleged syndication or price manipulation, this sad episode will continue.
It is high time that the government learnt from its mistake, because merely talking about syndicates controlling prices is like blowing hot air. What thousands of seasonal traders, who suffer financial losses, need is a legal action against the syndicates so that they rawhide price manipulation could be stopped during the next Eid-ul-Azha. The government should consider setting up a cell in relevant public agency that will collate updated information on the probable number of animals that will be sacrificed during Eid and keep track of the entire supply chain of the trade 鈥� from sacrifice to tanneries to prevent market manipulation in the future.
