Africa's Leather Sector

Africa is fast emerging as one of the future markets for  sourcing  quality leather and hides for the booming global leather industry.   Leather and leather products are among the most widely traded and  universally  used commodities in the world.

 Africa's abundance of livestock represents a natural  strength for  the sector, as leather is a by-product of the meat industry.  Africa has  about 15 per cent of the world's cattle population, a percentage  that  grew by about a quarter over the last decade, overtaking the global  trend.  Similarly, Africa possesses about 25 per cent of the world’s  sheep and goat  population. This puts African at the centre of the  booming leather industry as  a key supplier of hides and raw materials  to the growing industry of leather  and leather goods.