Sharp decline in hides business

Published September 16, 2018
Workers arrange hides in a Mingora shop. — Dawn
Workers arrange hides in a Mingora shop. — Dawn

MINGORA: As demand for animal hides sharply declined thousands of people in Swat threw skins of their sacrificial animals, especially those of sheep and goats, to the waste as they said dealers were not interested in buying them.

They said that there was time when dealers of skins would visit each and every house before Eidul Azha to book sacrificial hides in advance and pay some money to confirm the purchase.

“Strange enough that this time there was no buyer or dealer to buy the skins of animals. I contacted some dealers and they showed no interest in buying skins of sheep which we sacrificed,” said Sajjad Ali, a resident of Saidu Sharif. He said that he threw away the skins as no one contacted him for getting the same.

Dealers of the animal skins in Swat said that prices of hides of sacrificial animals had declined sharply.

“The downfall in our business started three years ago but this year it sharply declined as these days there is no value of the skins of sheep and goat while the skin of cow and buffalo is being sold for up to Rs500 as against Rs4,000 before,” said Abzair Khan, a resident of Mingora who buys animal skins and sell them to a dealer for more than 10 years in Mingora bazaar.

He said that he would earn enough money during Eidul Azha season, but his income in the last Eid was very low. “In the previous years I would earn big money which would be sufficient for six months livelihood of my family, but this year I earned a meager amount of money not enough for a month,” he said.

The buyers and dealers of the animal hides said that their prices fell as low as Rs30-50 for the hides of goat and sheep, stood between Rs200 and Rs400 for calf and between Rs500 and Rs1,000 for skins of bigger animals. Over 500 workers with about 40 big dealers were involved in the hides business only in Mingora who used to collect, clean and arrange them, but recently only 50 to 60 workers are connected with the business.

Dealers in Mingora said that there was time when industries owners in Karachi, Lahore, Gujranwala and other cities waited for the hides restlessly, but since exports of Pakistani leather stopped to foreign countries the owners of leather industries did not take interest in buying skins.

“At first the owners of leather industries would even provide us money in advance for the hides, but this year I have a large number of hides which I want to send them but they even do not receive my calls,” said Anwarullah, a dealer of the animal hides in Mingora bazaar.

He said that he would buy 8,000 to 10,000 hides during Eidul Azha, but this time he bought 2,500 hides while he did not hope to sell them easily. He said that the export of leather and leather products to foreign countries had dropped drastically because of the lack of interest of the government.

Dealers in Swat said that thousands of people had lost their jobs while they were incurring big losses due to crisis in the hides business.

“We have huge quantity of hides in our stores here but the leather industry owners refuse to take them. It seems our business will soon collapse,” said Bakhtawar Khan, another hide dealer in Mingora who has been connected with the business for 40 years.

The dealer said that where in rest of the world the number of leather goods was being increased and the related businesses were blooming, in Pakistan precious hides were thrown away in the garbage.

He said that in past it was beneficial business which employed a large number of people, but five years ago it started falling down and this year he might shut his business.

According to the data produced by Pakistan Tanners Association, export of leather and leather products dropped from $1.14 billion in 2012-13 to $552 million in July-January 2017-18 and the reason was reported as lesser focus of the government on exports.

The dealers said that leather industry of Pakistan was the third dynamic sector after cotton, textile and rice which employed about 500,000 people directly.

When contacted, Iftikhar Ahmad Khan, deputy director of Trade and Development Authority of Pakistan in Swat, said that taking care of the local hides business was not among his responsibilities so he had no data in this regard. However, he said that his office organised awareness seminars for promotion of exports, which also included the business connected with the animal hides.

Published in Dawn, September 16th, 2018

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