Hides price falls to sh150 from 1,200

Jan 03, 2009

THE price of hides and skins has fallen to sh150 from sh1,200 three weeks ago, rendering this festive season a bad one for the traders.

BY Muhammed Mukandagga

THE price of hides and skins has fallen to sh150 from sh1,200 three weeks ago, rendering this festive season a bad one for the traders.

According to Omar Faisal, an exporter based in Kampala at the City Abattoir, failure of exporters to process their hides had affected most traders since it lowers the value of the exports.

“That is why Skyfat Traders in Jinja are beating us. They have a tannery,” Faisal said.

Traders from areas like Luweero are worried. Some plan to abandon the trade, while others have started dealing in other goods like coffee, which are more profitable.

Abdul Karim Mabanga, a hides and skin trader based in Wobulenzi, says investing in hides is risky because exporters take long to pay them, a situation that forces most of them to invest in other businesses.

Hajj Amir Mbowa, a cattle trader based in Wobulenzi, says the hides are likely to rot in the stores because there are no buyers.

“The next thing for us to do is to give out our hides to traders freely because even at sh150, they are not willing to take them,” Mbowa elaborated.

Habib Kalule, a trader based in Kampala at Kalelwe Abattoir, says the quality of the hides still remains low despite all efforts to improve it.

Kalule said poor methods of skinning and preservation like poor salting plus exposure to direct sunshine lead to the low-quality hides.

Due to the fall in prices, traders no longer get advance payment from the buyers to finance costs like tax payments to the abattoir and transportation.

(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});