PTA Hopes To Get Estimated 7.3 Million Hides & Skins

PTA Hopes To Get Estimated 7.3 Million Hides & Skins
Pakistan Tanners Association (PTA) is expecting to collect an estimated 7.3 million hides and skins worth approximately Rs 6 billion during Eid-ul-Azha. Talking to Business Recorder, an office bearer of PTA said, “This year, like previous year 7.3 million sacrificial animals are expected to be sacrificed across the country. 30 percent of total required raw-material would be acquired on Eid.”
According to PTA estimates, as many as 2.5 million cows, four million goats, 0.8 million sheep and 30,000 camels would be sacrificed. As a result, 7.3 million animal hides are expected to be available to tanners. PTA has expressed expectation that the price of hides will be the same like previous year. The PTA maintained that the prices of sacrificial animals’ hides sharply declined this year by over 40 percent which reduced the total business transactions by almost Rs 6 billion due to global leather market recession. The sharp decline in the rates of raw hides would cause a huge setback to the welfare organisations, charity and trust hospitals, and other collectors who get major chunk of their annual resources from it.
According to the PTA, the tanners will collect approximately Rs 6 billion value of hides and skins versus Rs 11-12 billion of previous years mainly due to falling prices of raw skins. According to the rates, for cattle (cow/calf) hides are worth Rs 1,500 to 1,800, goat Rs 175 to 225 per skin, sheep at Rs 125 to 175 per skin and camel at Rs 800 to 1,000 per hide.
The prices of animals are shooting up the sky, as the Eid is two days later and it seems that this year the prices have increased manifolds. Like other parts of the country, animals from different areas like Sargodha, Khushab and other parts have started arriving in the ‘Mandi’ of Islamabad. But the rates of the animals are beyond the reach of common man which has disappointed them severely. The prices of goats and sheep have increased by up to 20 percent.
“The average prices of the animals are out of reach of a common man. Certainly, the price is no way near my budget,” said Muhammad Waheed a purchaser there. Mehtab Ahmed a clerk said, “I have come here to buy a goat but I was astonished to learn the escalated prices of some of the animals here in the Mandi. Vendors are selling goats above Rs 30, 000”.
The rising prices of sacrificial animals made it hard for people to sacrifice animals on their own and thus many have opted for collective sacrificial cows. Ahead of Eid-ul-Azha many religious groups and NGOs have announced packages of collective sacrificial animals, saying that for the benefit to those who could not afford sacrificial animals, these packages had been offered.