However, Ahmed said the tanners wanted to borrow Tk 450 crore to finance rawhide purchases this season.
After applying salt, rawhide can be preserved for many months. This allows traders to send rawhides to tanneries gradually since the tanneries do not have the capacity to tan all rawhides at once.
The government proposed increasing prices by Tk 2 to Tk 3 for each square foot of rawhide this season at the traders' level compared to prices last year. However, Ahmed opined that prices should be the same as they were last year since the economic situation is not good.
The government set the price of cowhide at Tk 55-60 per square foot in the capital and Tk 50-55 in other areas last year.