It is estimated that about 2.2 million cow hides and 12 million goat and sheep skins were produced in Bangladesh during the three-day Eid festival’s sacrifice, and, according to media reports, retail prices for hides registered a 15% increase in price, with cow hides ranging from Tk 1,000 ($15.08) to Tk 2,000 per piece, and of goatskin between Tk 100 and 150. This increase comes despite tanners failing to decide on a set price for the raw hides and refusing to purchase hides that they viewed as over-priced. Tanners have already received Tk 2,500 million in bank loans, much more than the Tk1,940 million they received in the previous year for purchasing sacrificial hides.

A leader of the Bangladesh Hide and Skin Merchants Association urged tanners to purchase raw hides at good prices. Market observers fear that if procurement prices of raw hides are not increased by local tanners, merchants will sell them to smugglers who will sneak them into the neighbouring Indian market where the prices are usually higher.