RANGPUR, Sept 01: The traders of the district are worried as a huge quantity of rawhide has remained unsold owing to lack of response from the agents of merchants.
According to sources, even 20 days after Eid-ul-Azha, more than 20,000 pieces of rawhide still remain unsold in warehouses as merchants are showing their reluctance to buy them.
Seasonal small rawhide traders are the worst sufferers. They purchased the rawhides from the villages but are incurring massive losses now, sources alleged.
A number of hide traders said that they are facing enormous loss this year due to low price of sacrificial animal hides and shortage of capital.
Sources alleged that the prices of raw hides fell sharply just after the Eid-ul-Azha due to market manipulation by a "syndicate" in the region, causing massive loss to the small and seasonal traders of the region.
Obaidul, a seasonal hide trader of Rangpur city told the FE that he bought a total of 2000 pieces of cowhides from different areas under the district for Tk 600 to Tk 700 each.
But presently he is much concerned as owing to lack of buyers the hides are lying stockpiled in local warehouses. Use of salt for processing rawhide has increased the expenditure significantly, he added.
Hide traders said they are not able to sell rawhide as merchants or their agents are not coming from Dhaka to buy those, resulting in huge financial losses.
Lokman Hossain, a hide trader of Shapla Chattar Chamrapatti area in the city said this year only few agents and wholesalers from different parts of the country offered them prices between Tk 400 and Tk 500 per piece, much lower than the purchasing price, he said, adding that they had to spend money to process the rawhide.
If they sell the rawhides at lower rate they will have to incur colossal losses, he said.
President of Rangpur hide traders Associa-tion, Abdul Latif said, "It is really a matter of great concern that a huge amount of rawhides are lying stockpiled in the warehouses of the district due to lack of response from the merchants".
Moreover, the hide traders of the district are yet to receive Tk 90 million arrears from merchants of Dhaka, he also said.
As a result they are facing acute capital shortage.
He further said the traders purchased a huge amount of hides of sacrificial animals from eight upazilas of the district but they could not sell the same due to the low prices offered by present "syndicate."
He urged the government to take necessary steps in this regard.
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