Even a decade ago, the leather market in greater Chattogram was booming around Chattogram city where rawhide stokers from different districts, including Dhaka, used to gather to collect the rawhides of sacrificial animals.
But with the change of time, the situation has also changed a lot. Department of Livestock Services estimates that 8.50 lakh sacrificial animals will be slaughtered in Chattogram during this Eid-ul-Azha while rawhide traders have targeted to purchase of 3.5 lakh hides. As a result, the rest of the rawhides will be wasted.
Traders, however, claimed that on ground level, not 8.5 lakh, but five lakh animals might be slaughtered in Chattogram. In that case, too, a huge number of rawhides will be wasted as the rawhide buyers cannot buy beyond their capacity because there is no modern system of rawhide preservation in Chattogram.
According to the official data, more than eight lakh sacrificial animals were slaughtered during Eid-ul-Azha in 2022. The officials concerned have estimated the number to be 8.5 lakhs this year.
The leaders of the Greater Rawhide Warehouse Traders' Cooperative Association said that due to a drop in the prices of leather and an increase in the prices of leather processing accessories including salt, a maximum of 350,000 pieces of rawhides can be collected this Eid. They collected three lakh hides last year.
President of the organisation Md Moslem Uddin said, “Even a decade ago, there were about 120 traders involved in the rawhide warehousing business. Now due to business instability and recession, there are only 25 to 30 people in this sector. Rawhides cannot be procured due to increased costs of salt, spices and warehousing. From Chattogram, we have set a target of collecting a maximum of three and a half lakh animal rawhides.”
“If the number of sacrificial animals is high, we have made no decision yet about surplus rawhides. We could manage to purchase some extra hides if there was a system for preserving them,” he told The Business Post.
Leather traders say that once the leather market here was famous. Apart from Chattogram district, hides from various districts, including Cox's Bazar, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Feni, Noakhali, and Cumilla came here. Traders used to buy hides through auctions. But for the last 6-7 years, the leather market saw no boom.
There were more than 200 big traders there, but now that the number has come down to 35-40. The supply of rawhides has increased but the sales rate has not increased. So, many traders have shut their businesses.
Traders say that the leather industry started its journey in Chittagong in 1948. Since the business was profitable, around 22 tanneries were established in Chittagong in the 90s after the country’s independence. But 20 tanneries were closed around 2010 as the country's trade became Dhaka-centric and caused environmental hazards.
When leather processing factories Reef Leather and Madina Tannery were in operation, they used to buy half of the rawhides from Chittagong. However, after the closure of Madina Tannery due to ETP-related problems in 2016, traders have become dependent on Dhaka for the sale of sacrificial animals’ rawhides.
