Wastes of sacrificial animals produced during Eid-ul-Azha have brought fortune for scavengers and seasonal traders as the entrepreneurs of the informal sector have been exporting tonnes of processed wastes to many countries earning foreign currencies.
Besides, a potential local market of slaughtered animal leftovers has emerged as the thriving pharmaceutical industry of the country has started manufacturing gelatin (capsule shell) from animal leftovers targeting both domestic and international markets.
According to Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned around US$16.54 million or Tk 1.30 billion in the fiscal year (FY) 2016-17 by exporting slaughtered animal wastes.
In FY 2015-2016, US$ 16.24 million or Tk 1.27 billion was earned from the informal sector. However, sector-related people said the export can be raised to a substantial level with formal investment and specific government policy and support.
Currently, some Hazaribagh and Jatrabari-based traders collect inedible body parts of sacrificial animals including bones, horns, hooves, intestines, stomachs, bladders, genitals and tail hairs which are processed by them before export or domestic use.
The processed or raw animal leftovers have been exported mainly to countries like China, Hong Kong, India, Japan, Thailand, Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia and Vietnam.
To support the entrepreneurs of the sector, Bangladesh Bank (BB), in a circular issued on August 17, 2017, declared 10 per cent cash incentive on the exports of guts, stomachs, horns and tendons (without bone) of cattle for FY 2017-18.
Chief executive officer (CEO) of Kisan Bone and Horn Processing Company Nazrul Islam told the FE that they have started producing crushed bones and horns since 1982.
Now, the company is operating as a cottage industry, manufacturing bone and horn buttons which are exported to many countries, he added.
Mr Islam also said that the sector is dependent on some traders, who collect animal leftovers using thousands of scavengers throughout the country. It means there are no formal channels or supply chain to collect such products.
Besides, the government lifted 5.0 per cent cash incentive on bone powder export in the last fiscal that hampered exports of the product, he added. Old Dhaka-based Faisal Enterprise proprietor Md Faisal said washed cattle stomachs and guts were exported to China, Thailand and Hong Kong in the past.
But, in the last couple of years, the products are being collected by several pharmaceutical companies as they produce gelatine, which is used to make capsule shells.
He said that dried cattle genitals are exported to China, South Korea, Thailand and Japan as the people of these countries make soup with it, while hooves and horns are exported to India mainly for making combs, buttons and X-ray films.
Above all, cattle bones, ears and some other parts are widely used in the country's poultry and fish feed industry, Mr Faisal added.
The EPB data shows that Bangladesh earned Tk 1.05 billion or US$ 13.50 million alone last fiscal form exporting guts, bladders and stomachs to China, Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong.
Meanwhile, several pharmaceutical companies exported gelatin made of animal bones, stomachs and guts to Indonesia, Iran, Malaysia, Pakistan and Thailand valued at Tk 79.60 million or $1.01 million in FY 2016-2017.
According to Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association, nearly 12 million animals were slaughtered in this year's Eid-ul-Azha of which over 5 million were cows and 7 million were goats, sheep and buffaloes.
