Tanners, suppliers in conflict over prices of raw hide, skin

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Jasim Uddin Haroon
The country's tanners and rawhide and skin suppliers are at loggerheads over prices offered by the former and those demanded by the latter, threatening the leather industry.
Experts said that the quality of leather will deteriorate and the industry to suffer if the rawhide and skin remain un-processed for long due to the bargaining.
Tanners want to purchase rawhide and skin with salt at Tk 35 per square foot while the suppliers demand almost double (Tk 60) for the same, as they claim to have added salt and other chemicals for preservation.
"It is hardly possible to purchase rawhide and skin at the prices demanded by the root-level suppliers," Rezaul Karim Ansari, chairman, Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association (BFLLFEA) told the FE.
On the other hand Abul Hossain, proprietor of Abul Hossain Hide Traders, said: "We've added salt and other chemicals to retain quality. So we need better prices for the hides."
Mr Hossain said: "We're asking price for the big-size skin at Tk 60 and for small and medium-size one at Tk 50."
Mr Hossain, who along with others is now in price negotiation with the tanners, said they would not bow to the pressure of the tanners.
Meanwhile Bangladesh Tanners Association (BTA) President Shaheen Ahmed said that the suppliers should have kept in mind the prices fixed by the two leading leather organisations during purchasing of the hides at the root level.
Before Eid-ul-Azha, BTA and BFLLFEA set prices for the rawhide and skin at Tk 30 a square foot for the city and Tk 25 for other parts of the country.
The BTA president claimed that they had been offering competitive prices amid decreasing prices of rawhide and skin in the international market.
BFLLFEA sources claimed that the average international prices for the raw hides ranged between US$ 1.10 and $ 1.50 per square foot.
However BFLLFEA chief Ansari hoped that the suppliers will reach a consensus with the tanners considering the real scenario of the leather sector.
He said: "They cannot demand so high prices as they have added at best Tk 4.0 for each square foot of the hides."
Md Shah Alam who brought 3,200 pieces of raw hides for selling, told the FE: "Our local consumption for finished leather is rising. So their (the tanners') excuse about the international market price is not justified."
According to Bangladesh Leather Goods and Footwear Manufacturers and Exporters Association, more than 50 shoe manufacturing units now consume around 35 per cent of domestic finished leather which had earlier consumed only 15 per cent.
Around 170 tanners of the country exported crust and finished leather worth $177 million (17.7 crore) in the 2008-09 fiscal while shoe manufacturers shipped footwear worth $ 204 million.
Local tanners procure around 50 per cent of hides and skin during the Eid-ul-Azha. About 222 million square feet of leather is processed a year, accounting for nearly 3.0 per cent of the world's consumption.