Gaibandha rawhide traders face huge losses
Seasonal and retail vendors of rawhide at the Kalibari market under Palashbari upazila are set to incur huge losses as the price of the skins they collected during Eid-ul-Azha has fallen drastically amid low demand.
Although they collected the rawhides of cows and goats slaughtered more than two weeks ago, poor purchases and sales were still noticeable on the last market day, Saturday.
Vendors brought their stocks to the largest rawhide market in northern Bangladesh but buyers were not in the mood to make bulk purchases, upsetting many vendors.
This is just the opposite of the customary practice. In the past, agents of tanners and wholesalers used to throng the market to procure hides at fair prices.
Cow skin was sold for Tk 1,500 to Tk 2,000 and goat skin Tk 200 to Tk 300 per piece in previous years. But this year, cow skin is being sold at Tk 250 to Tk 400 per piece and goat skin Tk 5 to Tk 15, said Ramjan Ali, a middleman from Kumarpur.
Seventy-year old Badsha Bepari, a rawhide trader from Taluk Haridas village in the upazila, said he has been in the rawhide trade since the country’s independence, going door to door to buy hides and processing those with salt before selling those at higher rates during Eid-ul-Azha.
“What happened this time was unimaginable. The price has fallen drastically. I have never seen such a price fall.” He stockpiled more than one hundred pieces of cow hides and is waiting for the price to rise. Mizanur Rahman, a retail trader, came to the market from Joypurhat to sell 60 pieces of cow hide.
“No prominent buyer is visible in the market.”
Atiqur Rahman, a hide trader from Lalmonirhat district, said he was facing a great problem as buyers had offered rates that were far below the prices he had paid.
The condition of goat skin vendors is even worse as no buyers were looking at their stock. As a result, the demand for the hide has hit rock bottom. Abdul Malek, a goat skin trader, invested Tk 20,000 to buy goat skins but was later compelled to sell them at Tk 10,000.
“I have decided to give up hide trading,” he said.
Shafiqul Kabir Mintu, the lease-holder of the market, said there has been no toll collection because of the thin presence of buyers. “If similar situation prevails, I will not invest in leasing the market.”
