Anthrax threat to Eid hides
08/11/2010
A much higher than normal level of slaughter for the festival usually provides Bangladesh’s tanners with around half of the raw material they use in a year. This year, after an outbreak of anthrax in the country came to light in August, consumption of beef is likely to decline substantially.
Muhammad Aftab, president of Bangladesh Hides and Skin Merchants Association, has told local media: “We’re now supplying on average 70,000 raw hides a month against around 130,000 pieces [in a normal year]. If the trend continues, then we will get smaller quantities of the hides during the coming Eid-al-Adha.”
Local tanners collected more than 2.9 million bovine hides and 4.5 million goatskins during the festival in 2009.
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