Tannery owners have expressed their frustration ahead of the Eid-ul-Azha, the prime season for collecting rawhide, as around 50 percent of the last year’s hide remained unsold. Complications in availing bank loan, and international buyers’ negative attitude in purchasing leather from Bangladesh on compliance issues only added to the tanners’ frustration.
This may also discourage the seasonal hide traders as well as tannery industrialists to buy hides during the ensuing Eid-ul-Azha, said a hide trader while talking to Bangladesh Post. According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), the export target of leather and leather goods was $ 1.38 billion for the FY 2017-18 while the country earned $ 1.08 billion only. The earning in FY 2016-2017 was $1.23 billion.
The insiders at tannery sector said that the leather price has dropped in the international market. At the same time, many of the tannery owners are yet to get their formal allotment of their plots in Savar Tannery Park. Which is why many of them failed to get bank loans. As a result, tannery owners are sensing of crisis over buying rawhide during the coming Eid.
Chairman of Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) Shaheen Ahmed said, "Our banks disbursed loan amounting to Tk 470 crore for purchasing raw hides last year which was not sufficient. At the same time, the procedure of availing bank loan is also not that easy. We are yet to fully utilise the hide that we bought during previous Eid,” Shaheen added.
He alleged that the partially active Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) inside Savar Tannery Park is considered as the main drawback for the leather sector. It causes loss of government's money as well as pollution of Dhaleshwary River. However, Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun recently said that the rest of the works for full functioning of CETP will be completed soon.
The works of connecting roads with the tannery park are also in progress as the government has taken all-out measures to utilise the potentiality of the promising leather industry of the country. Sources said, during the Eid-ul-Azha, around 90 lakhs to 95 lakhs pieces of hide are available. The supply mentioned above represent 90 percent of the total stock in the country.