Rawhide sellers frustrated over prices in Satkhira

Many people in Satkhira who sacrificed goats this Eid-ul-Azha are throwing away the raw hides of the animals as buyers offer Tk 5-10 per hide.

There is also an acute crisis of goat hide buyers, and the owners see no alternative but to throw it away.

Cowhides are also not being sold at the price set by the government. Hide traders complain that they endure losses due to not being able to sell it.

Meanwhile, goat hides were being dumped on the side of Binerpota bypass road in Satkhira due to a buyer crisis.

According to local sources, the animal owners and traders had discarded the goat hides from a lack of buyers.

Anar Sardar of Shibpur village in Satkhira said goat hide buyers are scarce. “I had to throw away the hide this year. Traders would go from house to house asking to buy the hides in the previous year,” he said.

Farid Hossain of Parulia village in Debhata upazila said, “I talked to a trader about buying two goat hides. He replied that he would buy them if I paid for two kgs of salt along with it.”

Hide trader Jamaludding of Satkhira said he bought goat hide for Tk 5-10 per piece and cowhide for Tk 100-600 per piece.

“Goat hides get wasted by the time they are processed so buying it is a hassle. Cowhides also need to be processed with salt and the government has set a price of Tk 10 per square foot,” said the trader.

He added that it costs Tk 10 to salt and process per square foot of cowhide. The traders do not know yet where to sell the processed hides.

Jamaluddin also said that the business in the leather and hide industry in the southern region has endured significant losses in the last 3-4 years. Many traders have not been paid arrears.

Nazmul Hasan, deputy director of the Directorate of National Consumers’ Right Protection Department Satkhira, said the hides of the sacrificed animals were being stockpiled with salt in madrasas, mosques, orphanages and yards.

“We visited on the afternoon of Eid day. The traders are buying goat hides at Tk 10-15 and cowhide at Tk 400-600 depending on the size,” he said.

According to him, approximately 20,000 cows have been sacrificed in the district on the occasion of Eid.

He said that they have not received any news of hides being discarded. He added that they go to the spot and talk to the traders and animal owners and get detailed information.