Mashiur Rahman Selim, Cumilla South

A silent crisis has engulfed hundreds of seasonal rawhide traders and middlemen across the southern region of Comilla district due to intense price manipulation and strategic collusion by major wholesale syndicates. Despite government-fixed price rates for sacrificial animal skins, seasonal traders who dominated the grassroots procurement markets during the Eid-ul-Azha holidays are counting massive financial losses, leaving the local prospects of the leather industry in jeopardy.

According to ground reports from several upazilas in the southern part of the district, cow hides were sold for as low as Taka 200 to Taka 400 at various rural marketplaces, with some lower-grade hides dropping to a staggering Taka 100. The situation remains even more grim for goat skins and cow head skins, which practically found no buyers in the market. Local seasonal procurers who purchased these hides directly from households are facing extreme hardships due to skyrocketing labor wages, a critical shortage of preservation salt, and high preservation overheads.

Fringe traders alleged that a closely-knit syndicate of powerful wholesalers and warehouse owners (arathdars) orchestrated an artificial price drop from Thursday afternoon through Saturday. Dozens of seasonal traders were seen waiting in despair for hours outside locked warehouses in major trade hubs, with piles of rawhides rotting in the heat, as wholesalers flatly refused to purchase the goods at fair rates.

"The government had fixed the mofussil rawhide price at Taka 40 to Taka 45 per square foot, and we bought them from neighborhoods accordingly," a seasonal trader lamented. "But when the supply peaked on Friday, the wholesalers strategically halted purchasing altogether to create artificial pressure, forcing us to sell our inventory at throwaway prices."

A physical survey at the Daulatganj Bazaar leather lane in Laksam Upazila—the primary rawhide trading hub in the region—revealed an atmosphere of high secrecy, with wholesalers operating via secret agents and commission brokers to dictate prices behind closed doors. Out of 50 to 60 large established tanners and merchants in the belt, very few showed any enthusiasm to buy stock directly, citing a severe liquidity crisis driven by unpaid dues from central tannery owners in Dhaka.

In response to the allegations, sources within the Daulatganj Bazaar Wholesalers Association denied the existence of a coordinated syndicate. They argued that many seasonal traders lacked the technical knowledge to preserve the hides immediately with salt in the scorching summer heat. Wholesale representatives claimed that delayed delivery caused many hides to partially decompose, rendering them low in value. They also emphasized that if the local administration had strictly monitored the market dynamics from day one, such structural disputes could have been avoided.

Conscious citizens and genuine traders from Barura, Lalmai, Comilla Sadar South, Nangalkot, and Monohargonj upazilas have warned that the regional leather trade faces complete collapse. Local merchants urged the government to compel central tannery owners to clear past outstanding arrears immediately, while demanding rigorous state-backed market supervision to protect marginal financial stakeholders in future seasons.