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People donate rawhides as seasonal traders go missing

Ibrahim Hossain Ovi, Arifur Rahaman Tuhin
21 Jul 2021 19:31:41 | Update: 21 Jul 2021 21:40:27
People donate rawhides as seasonal traders go missing
A scarcity of seasonal traders during this year's Eid-ul-Azha forced many in Dhaka to donate rawhides of their sacrificial animals to madrassahs. — The Business Post Photo

With effectively no presence of seasonal traders during Eid-ul-Azha on Wednesday, people largely donated the rawhides of their sacrificial animals to religious organisations.

The very few numbers of seasonal traders, who bought rawhides, offered very low prices, much lower than the prices fixed by the government.

During visits to several areas in the capital and talking to people over the phone The Business Post could learn this.

"When I was a resident of Azimpur two years back, I used to sell a cow rawhides at Tk 500 and there was the presence of seasonal traders,” Md Ahmed, a resident of Pallabi, Mirpur, told The Business Post.

This year I did not see any traders and donated it to a madrassah, said Ahmed.

Like Ahmed, a good number of people in different parts of the capital, including Uttara, Mirpur, Farmgate, Malibagh and Badda did the same.

— The Business Post Photo

The little number of people, who were able to sell rawhides, appeared frustrated.

“I have sold the rawhide of my sacrificial cow at Tk 200. I bought this cow for over Tk 1 lakh and the size of the hide is around 30 square feet,” Shahidul Islam, a resident of Kathalbagan in the capital, told The Business Post.

“It was quite frustrating that I had to wait for a long time to get a buyer,” said Islam.

— The Business Post Photo

On July 15, the Commerce Ministry raised the prices of the rawhide of sacrificial animals by Tk 2 to Tk 5 per square foot ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha.

It set the prices of salted rawhide of cowhide at Tk 40 to Tk 45 per sqft in Dhaka and Tk 33 to Tk 37 outside the capital, which was Tk 35 to Tk 40, and Tk 28 to Tk 32 respectively in the last year.

The prices of goatskin were fixed at Tk 15 to Tk 17 per sqft across the country. The prices of she-goat were fixed at Tk 12 to Tk 14. The prices of goat and she-goat were Tk 13 to 15 and Tk 10 to Tk 12 respectively last year.

— The Business Post Photo

In some cases, religious institutions like madrassahs were also found not very interested in accepting rawhides as donations due to low prices.

“There are some expenses to collect rawhides but the buyers offered a very low price. It keeps very little margin for us. Sometimes it did not even cover our costs,’ said Mohammad Mizanur Rahman, a teacher of a madrassah located in Dhaka’s Dakhin Khan area.

“We are collecting rawhides from the areas, which cost less so that we can earn something,” he said.

According to the Department of Livestock Services, this year there are about 1.19 crore sacrificial animals available and some 1 crore would be sacrificed.

During the last Eid-ul-Azha,95 lakh cattle were sold for sacrifice.

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