Hide traders face huge loss from 'artificial crisis'
Tk 10cr rawhide stockpiled in Natore attracts no major buyer
Anwar Ali, Rajshahi
Hide traders in Natore despair following steep fall in prices and lack of buyers for their stocks of rawhides worth about Tk 10 crore.Traders said they bought cowhides at rates ranging from Tk 1,200 to Tk 1,800 and goat-hides at Tk 300 to Tk 325 during the Eid-ul-Azha. But, a standard cowhide is now being sold at Tk 1,000 to Tk 1,200 and a goat-hide at Tk 250 to Tk 290. A prominent member of the several hundred traders who operate at Natore hide market, the largest in the north-western region, described the situation as 'an artificial crisis'. He alleged tannery owners, the main buyers of the market, were deliberately delaying purchase in order to force traders lower hide price. "They also want us to sell hides on credit instead of cash payments. If they make further delays in coming in, we are bound for huge losses, as rawhides can't be stored for more than 25 days," he said. Nurul Islam, another leading hide trader, informed that hide bills of nearly Tk 8 crore had been lying unpaid from last year with the tannery owners. Fearing further price-falls, most of the small traders are selling off their stocks at throw away prices to avoid major loss while the bigger houses are still awaiting buyers from the tanneries. A section of local traders are also allegedly smuggling out large quantities of rawhides to India through various border points of Rajshahi. Akramul Hasan, general secretary of the local Hide Traders' Welfare Fund, said Natore market supplied roughly 35 percent of the country's hides. This year some 300 permanent and seasonal traders have bought at least 60,000 cowhides and some 80,000 goat-hides, he informed. At Natore hide market yesterday, this correspondent found all the traders, hoarders and middlemen waiting for buyers. "We are in for trouble. It's very unusual that this year we haven't received a single buyer in the last six days after the Eid," Natore Hide Traders' Group Vice President Babul Pramanik observed. M Forhad, who brought 99 pieces of goat-hides and 38 cowhides from Chatmohor in Pabna, suffered a loss of Tk 1,600 from selling the goat-hides to a local hoarder. "If I fail to make profit from the cowhides, I will definitely be ruined." Sunil Kumar who came to Natore market three days ago with 107 goat-hides and 67 cowhides from Kushtia is yet to find any customer. Jahrul of Sirajganj, Asaduzzaman Masud of Rajshahi and many others are facing the same bleak prospects.
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