Bangladesh today asked police and border guards to keep a sharp vigil on its porous border with India to prevent smuggling of raw hides of sacrificial animals during next month's Eid-ul-Azha festival as the country seeks to harness its booming leather industry.
"We have asked today all concerned -- the law enforcement agencies and the businessmen -- to remain alert against smuggling of raw hides during the Eid-ul-Azha," home secretary Mozammel Haque Khan told PTI.
He said leather appeared as the second major source of Bangladesh's foreign currency earning and "therefore it is natural for us to put in our efforts to support the industry preventing raw hide smuggling."
Khan's comments came hours after home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal chaired a meeting with senior officials of police and paramilitary Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) where the directives were issued to prevent smuggling.
Bangladeshi tanners earlier had expressed hopes to procure six million pieces of raw hide after this year's Eid-ul-Azha festival late next month.
Officials familiar with the meeting said the law enforcement agencies were asked to prevent movement of trucks and other vehicles carrying raw hides towards porous borders with India for smuggling.
According to business leaders, Bangladesh was likely to be an attractive destination for leather sector entrepreneurs as China, the world's largest footwear manufacturer, was shifting focus away from this sector.
The manufacturers believe Bangladesh's annual USD 550- million footwear industry may grow to a USD 15-billion sector within a few years if the opportunity is seized.
Bangladesh tanners allege during the cattle sacrificing festival a group of middlemen who were not related to the industry emerge and procure the raw hide at an exorbitant rate to smuggle it out of the country despite demands of the local markets.
Officials said the government decided to fix the price of raw hide this year to prevent their procurement at an exorbitant rate which prevents local traders from purchasing it.
According to the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), Bangladesh earned USD 1.29 billion from export of leather, leather goods and footwear in the 2013-14 fiscal. The amount accounts for 4.2 per cent of the country's total exports.
Bangladesh exports finished leather to over 30 countries including China, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, South Korea, the Netherlands and Vietnam.
