Rawhide price rises slightly

Prices of rawhides of sacrificial animals have increased slightly this year from the primary stage to the wholesale end.

The seasonal traders purchased per piece of rawhide at Tk 500 to Tk 800 based on quality and size and sold at Tk 700 to Tk 1,000 in the traditional rawhide market at Posta in Dhaka’s Lalbagh on Sunday.

Muslims celebrated Eid-ul-Azha festival on the day by sacrificing animals across the country.

Jahidul Islam, who came from Kamrangichar to sell hide, told The Business Post, "Per piece of rawhide price has increased by Tk 50-Tk 60 on average than the previous year."

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He said, "A medium-size rawhide is being sold at Tk 800 this year which was Tk 700 in 2021."

However, he claimed that the price has not increased as per the government directives.

This year, wholesale traders bought per piece of large-size hide above Tk 1,000 which was rare last year.

Shofiqul Islam, a trader of Posta, said, "Rawhide prices have slightly increased this year. We are offering Tk 50 to Tk 100 more per piece of rawhide than we had offered in the previous year.

"The average price of a piece of rawhide is Tk 750-Tk 800 depending on quality," he added.

However, a small-size rawhide is sold at Tk 300 in the market.

Fazlur Rahman, who works as a middleman, said per square foot rawhide without salt is bought at Tk 30-Tk 35, which is almost the same compared to the previous year.

Goatskin remains unsold again

People dumped goatskin beside the streets again due to lack of buyers.

Visiting the rawhide market at Posta, this correspondent found several hundred goatskins scattering over the roadside.

Due to lack of demand, the same incidents took place in the previous years from 2019.

Mofiz Mia, a seasonal trader, said that buyers offered Tk 5 for a piece of goatskin. “This is why I did not sell it, rather dumped it on the street.”

On July 5, the commerce ministry raised the prices of rawhide of cows by Tk 7 and goat hide by Tk 3 per square foot compared to the prices of the previous year.

The price of salt-applied rawhide of cows was fixed at Tk 47-Tk 52 per square foot in Dhaka and Tk 40-Tk 44 outside Dhaka.

Last year, the rawhide price of sacrificial cow was Tk 40-Tk 45 per square foot in Dhaka and Tk 33-Tk 37 outside the capital.

The price of goat hide was set at Tk 18-Tk 20 per square foot across the country this year while it was Tk 15-Tk 17 per square foot last year.

However, the price of she-goat was fixed at Tk 12-Tk 14 per square foot across the country which remained the same in the previous year.

Workers busy to preserve rawhide

To protect rawhides from damage, hundreds of workers are passing busy time to preserve the valuable goods at Posta, the country’s largest market of rawhides.

After purchasing the hides from sellers, they first remove meat and fat from the hide and later apply salt to preserve it.

Abdur Rahman, a worker, said using salt is the most important thing to protect rawhides from bacteria.

"After using salt, it will remain intact for a minimum of two months.”

He said that many hides are brought late without applying salt. “This is why its quality gets damaged.”