Dhaka – Merchants have agreed to resume the sales of rawhides of sacrificed animals to tanners from today (Sunday) backing off from its Saturday’s announcement, paving the way for resolving the crisis in the leather industry.
President of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association (BHSMA) Mohammad Delwar Hossain came up with the new announcement after a tripartite meeting of tanners, merchants and others stakeholders of the leather industry at the Commerce Ministry.
“We’ve decided unanimously to sell rawhides from today. We‘ve also angered to retreat from our earlier decision to keep the rawhide sales suspended,” he said.
Replying to a question, Delwar said the Federation of Bangladesh Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FBCCI) has been given the responsibility to realise the dues of merchants from tanners.
He said Industries Minister Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun and the Private Industry and Investment Adviser to Prime Minister Salman F Rahman will work for resolving the problem in this regard.
Delwar also said the Skin Merchants in Dhaka and outside have around Tk 400 crore dues to the tanners. “We hope the tanners will pay our arrears shortly.”
On Saturday, BHSMA decided to keep the rawhide sales to the tanners suspended until their arrears are paid.
The Industries Minister said a plot is on to harm the progress of leather industry. “But our today’s meeting is successful as we’ve been able to solve the prevailing problems.”
He said around 1crore rawhides are supposed to be collected this year, and 10,000 of them might have damaged for various reasons.
About the crisis over the dues of skin merchants, the minister said they never came up with such complaints earlier. “The FBCCI has been given the task to realise the arrears from the tanners.”
He said the FBCCI is scheduled to hold a meeting with the tanners and skin merchants on August 22 to solve the problem.
The minister also said a political motive was there in creating the problem over the rawhide sale. “We’re aware of it.”
As his attention was drawn to dumping of 30 truckloads of rawhides in Chattogram, Nurul Majid said BNP might have involvement in it.
About the rawhide e4xport, he said they will take the final decision later assessing the overall situation.
Majid also said the government is working to formulate guidelines for the leather industry.
Salman F Rahman said they are hopeful about finding a solution to the problem between the merchants and tanners through discussions.He also said the government will develop the leather sector to turn it into the main one in the days to come.UNB
