The wholesalers say they are getting fewer rotten hides of sacrificed Eid-ul-Azha livestock this year than last year as the seasonal traders are swiftly taking the raw hides to the warehouses.

They think it would have been easier to preserve the hides if the salt price was lower.

Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants' Association President Md Delwar Hossain told bdnews24.com on Thursday the seasonal traders started coming to hide-trading hub Posta at 10am on the Eid day on Tuesday.

"They usually came after evening in previous years."

Delwar said fewer hides would rot this year as the traders were careful about preserving them.

According to him, around 500,000 cows were slaughtered during the Eid this year. Of them, 400,000 hides were brought to the warehouses in Posta. "These hides have been preserved well."

The wholesalers hope to get over 10 million hides, including 7.5 million of cows, this time.

Seasonal traders, however, said they had to suffer losses after buying hides at higher prices than the rates fixed by the tanners.

One of them, Badrul Islam Badu, complained he paid more than normal for hides due to the competition.

He said errors in measuring the hides also caused losses. "We bought a hide measuring it 25 square feet, but it came out to be 20 square feet when the agents in Posta measured."

Raw hide trading slow

Trading of raw hide was yet to gain pace two days into the Eid.

The agents were rushing to seasonal traders even for two or three hides.

'Swapan', a seasonal trader from Chankharpul, said he sold two hides at Tk 3,000. The profit was Tk 100 per hide, he claimed.

"I had earlier made Tk 500 profit for a hide," he said.

Wholesaler 'Aftab' also admitted that the seasonal traders saw a fall in profits.

He said Posta would get crowded when the tanners begin gathering there after a week.

The tanners have fixed price of raw cow hide at Tk 50 per square feet in Dhaka and Tk 40 outside the capital city.

They will buy goat hide from Tk 15 to 20 a square feet.