The Ministry of Commerce on Sunday (June 25, 2023) fixed the prices of salted cowhides at Tk 50 to Tk 55 per square feet in Dhaka and at Tk 45 to Tk 48 outside Dhaka. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi disclosed this after a meeting with tannery owners, the Tariff Commission, and related stakeholders at the Ministry of Commerce. The minister said that the price of salted cowhide has been increased by Tk 3 in Dhaka and by Tk 5 outside Dhaka compared to last year. And the prices of Khasi (male goat) and goat skin were kept the same as it was in the previous year. Read: Salted rawhides collection starts Thursday Tipu Munshi said the rawhide prices of sacrificial Khasi (male goat) has been fixed at Tk 18 to Tk 20 and goat Tk 12 to Tk 14. Last year, the price of salted cowhide was Tk 47 to Tk 52 per square feet in Dhaka and Tk 40 to Tk 44 outside Dhaka. And the price of salted skin of khasi was Tk 18 to Tk 20 and goat skin was Tk 12 to Tk14. Tanners will get around Tk 259 crore loans from banks to procure and preserve rawhides during the upcoming Eid-ul-Azha. Read: Steps taken to prevent rawhide smuggling in border areas: Industries Secy According to commerce ministry sources, tannery owners have written to the ministry seeking a Tk 500 crore loan . A total of 12 public and private banks will disburse the loans among applicants with state-owned ones lending the maximum amount. Read more: Govt hikes rawhide prices ahead of Eid

Trade union leaders and economists on Thursday (December 29, 2022) urged the tannery owners to implement social and environmental compliances for the welfare of the industry and the workers. They said the European Union (EU) and the US are not buying leather from Bangladesh as most of the tanneries are yet to obtain certificates from Leather Working Group, an organisation of foreign leather buyers, for which the prices of leather are decreasing day by day. The trade body leaders were speaking at the programme Dissemination workshop on "institutional policy framework in the Tannery Workers Union" in a capital hotel Thursday. Read more: Tannery workers demand environment-friendly industry To obtain the certificates, the tanneries will have to implement social and environmental compliance programmes, the speakers at the programme said. Only so far three tanneries have got the certificates, they added. "And buyers of the EU and the US are buying leather from them." Social compliance relates to the health, safety and rights of the workers; environmental compliance means conforming to environmental laws, regulations and standards. Read more: Tanners demand 50-bed hospital in Savar tannery hub for workers’ treatment Professor MM Akash, chairman of the economics department of Dhaka University, spoke as the chief guest of the programme. General Secretary of Bangladesh Trade Union Kendra Wahedul Islam Khan, President of Workers Resource Centre Anwar Hossain; President of Tannery Workers Union Abul Kalam Azad and General Secretary Abdul Malek also spoke.

Tannery Workers Union (TWU) has demanded a 50-bed specialized hospital for the treatment of workers at Savar tannery hub, as they are suffering severe health hazards from the impact of chemicals used in the industry. The TWU leaders said this in a press briefing on labor compliance and a safe working environment in Savar tannery hub, held at press council auditorium in the capital on Tuesday. They also demand the implementation of the ILO labor conventional Act along with the permission of trade union to protect the industry and its labor. Speaking in the press conference, general secretary of TWU Abdul Maleque said the government is giving importance to leather industries, but the tannery workers are being deprived their minimum rights. “After working 30 years in the tannery industries, labors were sacked from job without paying any financial compensation, although the tannery owners make huge profit due to the labor of these workers,” he said. Read more: 7 tanneries shut down in Savar for polluting river He demanded a 50-bed hospital in the Savar tannery hub for the treatment of tannery workers as the industry workers suffered different physical difficulties including skin disease and cancer. Maleque also demanded the mandatory use of health safety guards during duty in and operation of machinery in the tannery industries. There are 20000 workers who are directly involved in the Savar tannery industries, while around 2 lakh workers are engaged in this industry indirectly. The tannery industries’ local value addition is around 84 percent, while this ratio in the garments sector is around 20 percent. Read more: Tannery owners to begin rawhide procurement soon Professor Dr. Belal Ahmed and Mohammad Nazrul Islam of solidarity center- Bangladesh, an international organization working on leather industry workers also spoke at the press conference.  

The government has taken steps to prevent rawhide smuggling in areas along the country's border, Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana has said. “Already the government has fixed the prices of rawhides in Dhaka and outside the capital, and it has strengthened vigilance in areas along the border to prevent rawhide smuggling,” she told reporters after visiting the tannery industrial area at Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) on Wednesday. Also read: Savar Tannery Estate: Guideline to be prepared over plot allocation This year, as many as 97 to 98 lakh animals will be sacrificed across the country during Eid-ul-Azha, the Secretary said. Already 1.21 crore rawhides have been prepared and the same will be processed at Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP) in Savar, said Zakia. "The ministry has taken steps to keep the Dhaleshwari river and its adjacent areas along the tannery industry area free from pollution," she added.  

Banks will provide Tk433 crore loans to tannery owners for purchasing rawhide after Eid-ul-Azha, the highest rawhide collection season in the country. Of these loans, four state-owned banks (Sonali, Janata, Agrani and Rupali) will provide Tk 258 crore. Of which, Janata Bank Limited has set a target of providing the highest amount of Tk 120 crore. Last year, the same amount of loans were planned to be distributed, but finally Janata Bank disbursed Tk 40 crore only. Read: Govt hikes rawhide prices ahead of Eid According to Bangladesh Bank (BB), the tannery owners will get bank loans of Tk 433 crore to buy raw hides. A portion of this loan has already been disbursed, the central bank sources said. This year, Rupali Bank is giving loans of Tk 30 crore, Agrani Bank Tk 83 crore and Sonali Bank Tk 25 crore. After the disbursement of loans in the leather sector in the nineties, most of the loans were not repaid. As a result,the private banks have stopped giving loans for this sector due to non-repayment culture of tannery ownets. Read: Savar Tannery Estate: Guideline to be prepared over plot allocation Now all the four state-owned banks are lending more to buy raw-hide. Apart from this, a few private banks are giving a small amount of loans. Bank officials say there is a tendency among tannery traders to invest the loans money in other sectors. That is why they willingly become loan defaulters.

The government will prepare a complete guideline over plot allocation in the BSCIC Tannery Industrial Estate in Savar. Industries Secretary Zakia Sultana asked the officials concerned to draft the guideline during exchanging views with stakeholders at the tannery estate on Thursday, said a PID handout. She stressed the need for using surface water instead of underground water and finding out a sustainable method to reuse the water used in the industrial estate. Read: Bangladesh receives record $2.09 billion remittance in April The secretary asked the representative of the Department of Environment to collect water samples from the effluent treatment plant at least once a month and send a report to the authorities concerned. Chairman of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries (BSCIC) Mahbubor Rahman and representatives of Bangladesh Tannery Association were present. Later, the industries secretary planted saplings in the tannery area. Read: Dhaka seeks Seoul’s "extra initiative" for Rohingya repatriation

As in every year, the workers of Lalbagh rawhide market in the capital are in the midst of their busiest period following Eid-ul-Azha, the second largest religious festival of Muslims that results in a large number of sacrificial animal hides.   

The ingredients of liquid refined tannery waste of Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC) following the standards set for it by the Environment Department, said KM Ali Azam, Secretary of the Industries Ministry.

Stern action will be taken against tanneries if they produce excessive chromium radiation beyond the standard set by Leather Working Group (LWG), warned Industries Minister  Nurul Majid Mahmud Humayun on Wednesday.