Bangladeshi tanneries, meanwhile accused by their suppliers of running into big current debts, will soon benefit from an additional billionaire fund, allocated by Bangladesh government. In fact, last Tuesday they launched 17 new actions to revamp domestic trade of hides and leather products: the government is going to allocate five billion dollars, from present until 2024, to support the plan. More specifically, as announced by Cabinet Secretary Shafiul Alam, such actions aim to foster a reconversion of tanning industry to “green” technologies, therefore claiming low-cost loans.
A domestic hassle
In the meantime, a dispute between suppliers and professionals, playing in the leather industry, keeps going on: the formers accuse the latters of taking advantage of hides and skins of animals slaughtered during the Eid al-Adha Islamic sacrificial ceremonies, as they got them at very cheap prices. Consequently, according to suppliers, tanners did not allegedly demand from them the amount of hides and skins they used to buy. Furthermore, owing to such a massive quantity of raw material, brought to tanneries, operators did not supposedly make use of stock provisions: according to estimates, stockpiled raw hides amount to about 30,000 units. Yet, as reported by suppliers, tanners have paid, so far, only 20% or 30% of them at most. On the other hand, some tanners, who had to deal with high expenses after relocating their own businesses from Hazaribagh to Savar, were somehow compelled to search for hides at cheaper price.
Automatized sewage treatment plant
While intentionally talking about a new Central Effluent Treatment Plant (CETP), Mostaque Hassan, president of the Bangladesh Small and Cottage Industries Corporation (BSCIC), announced that the government imported a number of equipment and tools: they are going to set them up in the plant to make it fully automatized. In addition, they will also open three new dumps, supposedly. Yet, as reported by internationaleathermaker.com, Professor Delwar Hossain, from University of Bangladesh, claims that customs officers allegedly seized, at the border, a remarkable quantity of chemicals and machinery coming from China. In that event, they will still have to wait before the plant may run at full speed: then, it is going to treat 25,000 cube metres of sewage a day. Such is the goal.
