Once thriving, now struggling: Hazaribagh's bone trade loses shine

The bone market of Dhaka's Hazaribagh, once bustling with activity, now stands largely deserted.

Known for trading in cattle bones, the market used to have around 25 to 30 shops. Today, most are closed, and the few remaining traders have turned to dealing in scrap metal.

Scavengers and butchers from remote areas of the country collect bones and sell them to the shops. The shopkeepers deliver these bones to the mill owners. Most mill owners also have their own bone collection shops.

The bones are cleaned, dried, and ground into powder in the mills. Later, local companies like Global Capsules Limited, which manufacture capsule shells, buy this bone powder. They then produce gelatin from this bone powder, which is used to make the capsule shells.

Hazaribagh's bone collector Jasim Uddin said, "Bone trading has nearly ceased here. Small traders used to sell 7-8 tonnes monthly to the processing mills. Now, even selling one tonne a month is rare."

Bhola Miah, owner of the bone processing mill Abid and Brothers in Hazaribagh, attributed the trade's decline to various reasons. 

The price of processed bones has not kept pace with rising operational costs. This squeeze on profit margins for bone processors like Bhola Miah limits their ability to buy bones from collectors.

He told The Business Standard, "I have been in this business since before independence, but these are the hardest times we have ever faced. I used to have three factories, but now I have almost nothing left."

He continued, "Five years ago, I collected at least 50 tonnes of bones monthly, and with the Eid-ul-Adha boost, the collection would go up to 1,500 tonnes yearly. Now, I struggle to gather even 200 tonnes a year."

Bhola Miah attributes the decline to several factors, including the pandemic, lack of government incentives, a devastating fire that destroyed three of his warehouses, and a lack of capital.

"Without land ownership, I cannot secure bank loans to buy bones," he added.

Traders in Hazaribagh revealed that raw bones sell for Tk18-19 per kilogram, and dry bones for Tk21-22 per kilogram.

However, rising costs for chemicals, transport, and labour have squeezed profit margins because the price of bones has not increased. This profit margin decline has led to significant waste, with many bones now going unused each year.

In Bangladesh, an estimated 15-20 million cattle, buffalo, and sheep are slaughtered annually, generating significant quantities of bones and other by-products.

Industry estimates suggest the value of these waste products from Eid and year-round slaughter reaches Tk3,000 crore. However, a significant portion of this valuable resource goes to waste.

Because of improper collection and cross-border smuggling, manufacturing companies like Global Capsule Limited are forced to import raw materials from abroad. The estimated national annual cost of importing bone meal is Tk250 crore.

Cattle bones are also crucial for animal feed. The growing poultry and fishery sectors have increased demand for meat and bone meal, which is imported from various countries.

Properly processing bones domestically could save significant import costs annually. If bone meal could be produced from the waste products of slaughtered animals by conducting health checks before slaughter, a significant amount of import costs could be saved each year.