For the first time in the country, the price of salted skin of sacrificial cow per piece has been fixed. The minimum price of a cow whose price is within Tk 1 lakh or whose skin size is 20 feet is fixed at Tk 1,200 in Dhaka and Tk 1,000 outside Dhaka.
Apart from determining the minimum price per piece of leather, the price is also fixed per square foot. This time, the price of sacrificial cowhide in Dhaka has been fixed at Tk 55 to Tk 60 per square foot and the price of cowhide outside Dhaka has been set at Tk 50 to Tk 55 per square foot. In this, the price of cowhide has increased by 5 taka per square foot compared to last time.
On Monday (June 3), the new price of leather was announced after a meeting was held at the Secretariat on determining the price of raw leather and fair management on the occasion of the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha.
Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leathergoods and Footwear Exporters Association Chairman Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahin announced the new price in the presence of Commerce State Minister Ahsanul Islam Titu.
Regarding fixing the minimum price of leather per piece, the Minister of State for Commerce said that those who offer sacrifices in marginal, especially Mofswal villages are not well aware of the price of leather. Those who live in and around Dhaka have a lot of knowledge.
He said, many people do not understand square feet. As for the small cow sacrificed, I asked them and they said roughly 18 to 20 square feet of hide. Now we have asked to determine the minimum price per square foot as well as per piece of salted leather.
After that, Chairman of Bangladesh Finished Leather, Leather Goods and Footwear Exporters Association, Mohiuddin Ahmed Mahin said that this Eid, the price of small cow skins between Tk 1 lakh has been set at Tk 1,200 in Dhaka and Tk 1,000 outside Dhaka.
Along with this, the price of sacrificial cow skin in Dhaka has been fixed at 55 to 60 taka per square foot and the price of cow skin outside Dhaka has been set at 50 to 55 taka per square foot.
On the other hand, the purchase price of Khasi leather has been fixed at Tk 20 to Tk 25 per square foot and goat skin at Tk 18 to Tk 20 per square foot.
Last year, the price of sacrificial cow hide was fixed at Tk 50 to 55 per square foot within Dhaka and the price of cow hide was fixed at Tk 45 to 48 per square foot outside Dhaka.
And the purchase price of goat leather is fixed at 18 to 20 taka per square foot and the purchase price of goat leather is fixed at 12 to 14 taka per square foot.
Although the price of leather is fixed, leather is not bought and sold at that price for the syndicate. In response to the question of what steps will be taken in this regard by the journalists, the Minister of State for Commerce said that the Directorate of Consumer Rights Protection will keep the matter under constant monitoring. Besides, people from different agencies work here. The image of the government depends on it. We will try our best so that leather is not sold anywhere in Bangladesh below the price set today. We will keep an eye on that.
He said, sacrifice is a sacrifice. It’s not a business. I think that the price that has been fixed, the minimum price for a cow skin in Dhaka is 1200 taka and outside Dhaka is 1000 taka, it is a bold move. We have seen different prices at different times. Now there is no more trouble of measuring square feet. This time a fresh cow skin is minimum 1200 taka.
Stating that the production of salt has been good this year, the State Minister said that the Ministry of Industry has said that the production of salt has been very or very good this year. Apart from this, I will arrange hunger strike with tannery and leather traders along with the Islamic Foundation. We have and will continue to train Madrasa students who perform sacrifices through our BPCs, from animal sacrifice to skinning and preservation.
This year, Ahsanul Islam Titu suggested that buying and selling leather should be based on mosques and madrassas, so that the leather can be easily preserved with salt. Since it’s a sacrifice, if everyone is of the same mindset, I think there won’t be any controversy over leather this year. All have taken this decision from religious thinking. No business decisions have been made. We felt that leather is the government’s asset, it needs to be preserved.
In response to a question about bank loans, the representative of Bangladesh Bank said that bank loans are mainly based on the agreement of the bank and the customer. The customer who the bank deems eligible will get the loan. However, for the past few years we have taken a target from the banks that how much money they can disburse loans on Qurbani Eid, how much preparation is there. A few banks said they were prepared. Some banks say they will give loans if they get good customers. It has set a target of disbursement of Tk 276 crore in the year 2024.
MAS/MHR/JIM
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