Hide business: Up to 50% of the cattle ‘exported’ to Iran and Afghanistan
If cattle smuggling is checked, prices will automatically come down.
KARACHI:
Eidul Azha is around the corner and everyone’s eyes are now on the hides of sacrificial animals.
With around 16 million animals being sacrificed every year, the business used to be extremely profitable. But for the last five years the market seems to have lost its fervour. Only nine million animals were sacrificed last year in the country and out of them 0.6 million were from Karachi.
The experts fear that with time the hides business will become almost unprofitable. Cattle smuggling has increased considerably in the last few years and hence brought down the local market.
The animal “exporters” are moving more animals across the borders than they are supposed to. “An exporter smuggles around 0.5 million animals on a licence of 0.1 million per year,” sources told The Express Tribune. “This also means that border security forces and the authorities are involved since they check a dealer’s licence on every trip across the border.”
This way, up to half of the cattle are smuggled to Iran and Afghanistan each, which is the main reason for the price hike. One reason that may explain this phenomenon, is that meat is sold at higher prices in other countries as compared to Pakistan. Hence, the dealers make more profit.
“The buying potential is going down drastically,” said the former chairman of the Pakistan Tanneries Association, Aziz Ahmed. “This year too, the circumstances indicate the same.”
Ahmed thought that the authorities should keep an eye on the exporters and take action against them. “There are rules to check smuggling but they need to be implemented,” he said. If smuggling is stopped then the prices will automatically come down because there will be more animals in the market. “The tanneries will be able to buy more raw material and bring in foreign revenue to the country.”
On the other hand, law enforcement agencies claim that they took strict action against groups who booked and collected hides by force. The Sindh government also devised a code of conduct for hide collection. The agencies were clearly directed to arrest violators and challan them in Anti-Terrorism Court.
Usually, madrassahs, political and religious parties, welfare trusts and NGOs collect hides. Often serious clashes erupt during the booking and collection. Lyari, Pak Colony, Golimar, Nazimabad, Orangi Town, Garden, Malir, Landhi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Shah Faisal Colony and New Karachi are the hotbeds because they are dominated by political parties.
“There are two major political parties here,” said a resident of district west. Both of them come to the homes and book the hides in advance. “If we give it to one, then the other one gets angry, and if we give it to the other, then the first one becomes angry. Then they also fight among themselves.”
Since we don’t want to be harassed by these groups we don’t argue with them, he said. “We give the hides to whoever comes first. They keep fighting over it themselves.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.
Eidul Azha is around the corner and everyone’s eyes are now on the hides of sacrificial animals.
With around 16 million animals being sacrificed every year, the business used to be extremely profitable. But for the last five years the market seems to have lost its fervour. Only nine million animals were sacrificed last year in the country and out of them 0.6 million were from Karachi.
The experts fear that with time the hides business will become almost unprofitable. Cattle smuggling has increased considerably in the last few years and hence brought down the local market.
The animal “exporters” are moving more animals across the borders than they are supposed to. “An exporter smuggles around 0.5 million animals on a licence of 0.1 million per year,” sources told The Express Tribune. “This also means that border security forces and the authorities are involved since they check a dealer’s licence on every trip across the border.”
This way, up to half of the cattle are smuggled to Iran and Afghanistan each, which is the main reason for the price hike. One reason that may explain this phenomenon, is that meat is sold at higher prices in other countries as compared to Pakistan. Hence, the dealers make more profit.
“The buying potential is going down drastically,” said the former chairman of the Pakistan Tanneries Association, Aziz Ahmed. “This year too, the circumstances indicate the same.”
Ahmed thought that the authorities should keep an eye on the exporters and take action against them. “There are rules to check smuggling but they need to be implemented,” he said. If smuggling is stopped then the prices will automatically come down because there will be more animals in the market. “The tanneries will be able to buy more raw material and bring in foreign revenue to the country.”
On the other hand, law enforcement agencies claim that they took strict action against groups who booked and collected hides by force. The Sindh government also devised a code of conduct for hide collection. The agencies were clearly directed to arrest violators and challan them in Anti-Terrorism Court.
Usually, madrassahs, political and religious parties, welfare trusts and NGOs collect hides. Often serious clashes erupt during the booking and collection. Lyari, Pak Colony, Golimar, Nazimabad, Orangi Town, Garden, Malir, Landhi, Gulshan-e-Iqbal, Gulistan-e-Jauhar, Shah Faisal Colony and New Karachi are the hotbeds because they are dominated by political parties.
“There are two major political parties here,” said a resident of district west. Both of them come to the homes and book the hides in advance. “If we give it to one, then the other one gets angry, and if we give it to the other, then the first one becomes angry. Then they also fight among themselves.”
Since we don’t want to be harassed by these groups we don’t argue with them, he said. “We give the hides to whoever comes first. They keep fighting over it themselves.”
Published in The Express Tribune, November 5th, 2011.