Photo : BSS

CHATTOGRAM, June 20, 2025 (BSS) - The sale of salted rawhides from sacrificial animals has started in Chattogram.

The government had set the price of salted cowhides at Tk 55-60 per square foot, buyers, mostly tannery owners and their representatives from Dhaka are reportedly purchasing hides at significantly lower rates, between Tk 38-40 per square foot. 

Over the past two weeks since Eid-ul-Azha, Chattogram's Atura depot areas, including Muradpur, Bibirhat, and Hamzarbagh have seen increased activity, with hide buyers arriving from Dhaka. 

More than one lakh hides have already been sold, including 15,000 purchased by RSM Leather of Dhaka.

Akbar Hossain, owner of Khokon Tannery and Panna Leather, who usually buys 15,000 to 20,000 hides annually from Chattogram, is expected to make similar purchases this year.

This season, a total of 415,351 raw hides have been collected in Chattogram district, including 315,351 cowhides, 10,500 buffalo hides and 52,500 goat hides.

Traders say it may take over a month to sell all the skins. The hides are currently stored in warehouses around the Atura depot.

Reef Leather, the only remaining operational tannery in Chattogram, once home to 22 tanneries, has bought 50,000 hides so far. The others shut down over the years due to industry losses and the failure to establish required effluent treatment plants (ETPs).

Abdul Jalil, convener of the Chattogram Raw Leather Dealers' Cooperative Association, said that hide collection surpassed this year's expectations. 

Seasonal traders bought small cowhides for Tk 300-400, medium-sized ones for Tk 500-600, and larger hides for Tk 600-700. He explained that costs rise due to multiple stages of handling and transportation from collection points to the Atura depot.

However, not all hides remained in good condition. Around 500-600 hides have been spoiled due to the ongoing heatwave.

Saiful Islam, a local hide trader, pointed out that Chattogram is fully dependent on Dhaka tanneries for leather sales, with about 20 of Dhaka's 225 tanneries including Bhulua Tannery, Salma Tannery, Mahua Tannery and Khokon Leather, buying hides from Chattogram.

Muslim Uddin, former president of the Raw Leather Dealers Association, expressed deep concern over the gap between the government-fixed rate and actual purchasing prices. 

"Sometimes we make only Tk 20 to 30 per hide and buyers often delay payments for a year," he said.

He added that such price manipulation and delayed transactions put local leather traders at financial risk and could discourage participation in the market in future years.