Seasonal traders count losses as sacrificial animal rawhides left unsold in Chattogram, donated to orphanages

Thousands of sacrificial animal rawhides in Chattogram have either been donated to orphanages and madrasas or discarded, as buyers failed to appear in many areas. 

Seasonal traders, who invested in hopes of quick profits, are now counting heavy losses.

According to the Department of Livestock, around 9 lakh animals were sacrificed in Chattogram this year. Leather traders set a target of collecting approximately 4 lakh rawhides.

So far, around 2 lakh pieces of cow, buffalo, goat, and sheep hides have arrived at warehouses in Chattogram's Atura Depot area. Another 2 lakh hides are being stored in various upazilas, waiting to be transported to either Chattogram or Dhaka. 

Despite government-fixed rates, the price of rawhides per piece has drastically fallen, ranging from Tk600 to as low as Tk300 in many cases.

Md Muslim Uddin, former president of the Greater Chittagong Raw Leather Dealers' Cooperative Association, confirmed that around 2 lakh hides have been collected in the city alone, with an additional 2 lakh stored in outlying regions. 

"I bought about 7,000 hides," he said. "But as the day went on, prices dropped. By night, the price per hide was less than Tk300."

This year, local warehouses faced an unexpected influx, not from traders but from representatives of madrasas and orphanages. 

In many neighbourhoods, sacrificial donors, unable to find buyers or unwilling to sell at throwaway prices, donated skins to nearby religious institutions. Others, disheartened, buried them in the ground.

In some upazilas, including Mirsarai, the situation was more dire. Gias Uddin, a resident of the Sadar Union, shared that buyers had booked rawhide before Eid but pulled out at the last moment. 

"I waited until afternoon. Eventually, I had to donate the rawhide to a madrasa. Some neighbours took hides to Mithachara bazar and sold them for just Tk100," he said.

Saiful Islam, director of a Meat Bazar in Baluchara, said 22 cows were sacrificed through their establishment. "But no buyer showed up all day. Even butchers refused to take the hides. Finally, at 10pm, we contacted an orphanage in Khulshi and handed them over."

The lack of buyers isn't new, but the scale of this year's market collapse has alarmed traders. Mohammad Kabir, a trader for 15 years, said, "I bought hides for an average of Tk400, but no wholesaler is offering more than Tk300–350. I had expected better this year."

Chatogram's leather sector, employing around 20,000 to 25,000 people, now faces an uncertain future. Though there are about 200 rawhide depots in the city, only one functional tannery operates here, with the capacity to process 30,000–40,000 hides. 

The rest must be shipped to Dhaka, further straining logistics and margins.

Seasonal traders were among the hardest hit. Atiqur Rahman, who purchased 170 hides at an average of Tk350, had to sell them for just Tk250. 

"I lost around Tk100 per piece. In the end, I even had to throw some away," he said.

Although the government set the price of salted cowhide at Tk60–65 per square foot in Dhaka and Tk55–60 outside, actual transactions in Chattogram occurred at rates significantly lower than these. 

Traders attribute this to confusion among seasonal buyers, who often mix up the prices of raw and salted hides, leading them to overpay and ultimately incur losses.

In an attempt to prevent hide spoilage, the government had also planned to distribute 30,000 tons of salt for free to madrasas and orphanages. However, due to a lack of formal policy and execution, only 11,571 tons were distributed.