They said prices of raw hides and skins may go down this year as the value of leather and leathergoods in the global market dropped by nearly 50% mainly due to poor demand in Europe and the USA.
President of Bangladesh Tanners’ Association (BTA) Haroon Chowdhury said: ‘We have a target to collect more than 2.5 million pieces of hides and skin during this Eid.’
When asked, he said they have assessed the prices of raw hides and skin at Tk30-35 per sq ft primarily, which was around Tk60-70 during the last Eid.
But, SauerIndex for global hides prices said European hide prices, which follow the US market, have dropped up to around 30% since mid November.
‘We have assessed the global market value of hides to calculate prices in the local market during eid festival’, Rezaul Karim Ansari, president of the Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods Association said, adding prices of hides and skin could go down by nearly 50% compared to the previous year.
‘We have no way but to be very careful in buying raw hides and skins when their prices are falling in the global market’, he said, adding bank credits will help to keep prices at tolerable level.
Three state owned banks have already sanctioned Tk2.75 billion to help the private sector hide traders purchase raw hides and skin.
Of the total amount, Tk250 million was sanctioned by Sonali Bank Ltd, Tk1.50 billion by Janata Bank Ltd and Tk1 billion by Agrani Bank Ltd.
Sector insiders, however, stressed the need for beefed up security measures so that raw hides and skins are not smuggled across the border.
‘We are expecting to collect more than 40% cent of our yearly collection of hides during this eid festival as a higher number of animals will be sacrificed this year due to parliamentary and upazila elections’, said the BTA president. ‘
We’ll procure raw hides though we are passing through a hard time for the last few months as export earning from the sector dropped to some extent.’
Bangladesh exports raw hides to Italy, Japan, Korea and China apart from supplying local leather products to Europe and USA.Bangladesh exported leather and leathergoods worth $284.41 million in the fiscal of 2007-08 and its target for the current fiscal is $304.32 million. The country also exported footwear worth $169.60 million and leather bags and purses worth $8.87 million
