The government plans to take up a project in a bid to prevent price debacle with improving the preserving process of rawhide (salted/non-salted) of cows, goats and buffaloes, sources said.
The decision came at a view-exchange meeting on rawhide management, purchase and sale, storage and preservation. The meeting was held at the commerce ministry on Tuesday with commerce secretary Md. Jafar Uddin in the chair.
Representatives from different government agencies, leather associations and officials concerned were, among others, present in the meeting.
When contacted, Md. Shaheen Ahamed, chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association, said the leather sector's representatives have proposed establishing cooling facilities to help ensure the quality of rawhide and skins.
They recommended taking required steps to stop using chemical feeding for fattening cattle in order to ensure the quality of hides, he added.
They also suggested developing the management process of rawhide of sacrificial animals, a meeting source said.
Some pieces of rawhide of sacrificial animals were dumped into garbage depot in Chattogram, according to an official of the industries ministry.
The traders concerned collected rawhide from different parts of the district and took them to the port city, but failed to sell them due to a lack of demand. Later, they left those rawhide on the city roads, he added.
The government lowered the prices of rawhide and skins of sacrificial animals to Tk 35-Tk 40 per square foot (sft) (salted) in the capital during last Eid-ul-Azha.
During Eid-ul-Azha in 2019, the prices of rawhide and skins were fixed at Tk 45-Tk 50 per square foot (sft) in the city.
On the other hand, the rate was fixed at Tk 28-Tk 32 per sft outside the capital in 2020 which was Tk 35-Tk 40 per sft in 2019.
Goatskin (salted) was sold at Tk 13-Tk 15 per sft across the country while she-goat's skin at Tk 10-Tk 12 per sq ft during the last festival.
