C T Online Desk: The owners of warehouses for rawhide aimed to collect three to four lakh rawhides from Chattogram and its surroundings this Eid-Ul-Azha.
In three days until Wednesday, the warehouses, known as Kancha Chamrar Arat, gathered over two lakh rawhides from sacrificial animals such as bulls, buffaloes, goats and sheep.
However, marginal rawhide collectors accused warehouse owners of syndication and claimed they were being underpaid.
On the other hand, the warehouse owners placed emphasis on strict monitoring by the government so that they could sell the items to the tanners at the government-set price to tackle the challenges in the business.
Sources said the marginal collectors collected the rawhides from door-to-door on Eid day at a price ranging from Tk200-600, depending on the size of the sacrificial animals.
They sold the product to the collectors of the second tier, who took the item to different makeshift selling spots in the city on that day.
Another group of traders collected the items in bulk from the spots and brought them to the warehouses, mostly located in the city’s Aturar Depot area.
Some collectors, however, directly brought the hides to the warehouses for a good price.
Additionally, the Gausia Committee, a volunteer wing of the Anjuman Rahmania Ahammadia Sunnia Trust, also collected a significant number of rawhides through its volunteers.
Warehouse owners claimed they purchased rawhides from various collectors at prices ranging from Tk300-900, depending on size and quality.
Hazi Mohammad Ali from AI Leather, one of the largest warehouses in Aturar Depot, reported collecting 32,000 rawhides by Wednesday, with 19,000 from the Gausia Committee.
He denied allegations of underpaying field-level collectors, stating prices were comparable to previous years.
However, he stressed the importance of adhering to government-set prices for salt-mixed rawhides sold to tanners.
While talking to the Daily Sun at his office on Wednesday, Greater Chattogram Rawhide Warehouse Owners-Traders Cooperative Association President Mohammad Muslim Uddin said against the target of collecting three to four lakh rawhides of different sacrificial animals, they received over two lakh pieces till Wednesday.
The rest from different parts of the Chattogram and adjacent districts will be arriving gradually, he said.
Muslim claimed that they collected the hides at a price ranging from Tk300-900 from the field level collectors, and tanners will arrive after 10-15 days to collect the preserved products.
Regarding complaints from marginal collectors, Muslim explained that some seasonal collectors, lacking business knowledge, paid higher prices to animal owners, making it challenging for warehouses to match those prices due to additional costs until tanners acquire the rawhides.
The association’s Vice President Abdul Kader Sardar reported collecting 318,800 rawhides last year but noted a decline in traders, hindering business expansion.
Md Ruhul Amin, head of the Chattogram Divisional Monitoring Committee on Rawhide Buy, Sell, Preservation, and Storing, praised this year’s more organised rawhide trade due to stringent monitoring.
He noted that despite directives for marginal collectors to align with warehouse buying levels, some did not comply and incurred losses.
Chattogram currently hosts around 250 warehouses, with 112 registered with the association, but only 30 to 40 are active.
Since independence, Chattogram has seen its number of tanneries reduce from 22 to just one, primarily due to financial losses and environmental issues.
