Part I: General News
The 7th Regional Leather Sector Core Team Meeting Held
The 7th Regional core Team Meeting organized by COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute (COMESA/LLPI) and financed by the COMESA Regional Integration Support (EU) was held in the Sudan from 25-26 June, 2013 at Grand Villa Hotel, Khartoum.
The main objectives of the Core Team Meeting were:
- To design practical strategic guidelines for improving the leather value chain in the COMESA Region,
- To strengthen the collaboration between COMESA-Leather and Leather Products Institute and COMESA member States and
- To develop a strategy for fund raising
The Meeting was officially opened by H. E. Mr. Osman Omar Al-Sheriff, Minster of Trade of the Republic of the Sudan and attended by Core Team members drawn from public and private sectors from 6 member countries (Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe). COMESA Secretariat, COMESA/LLPI and various stakeholders from the host country, the Sudan.
The 7th Core Team Meeting selected Ms. Nalima Rupanic, Managing Director of Adelphi Leather Shop of Kenya as Chairperson of the Core Team for the next two years.
The Core Team Meeting thoroughly discussed on various pertinent issues that encompass:
- Importance of Designing strategic Guidance for improving the Regional Leather Value Chains in the COMESA Region;
- Strengthening of collaboration between COMESA/LLPI and Member States;
- Fundraising Mechanisms Development
At the end of the second day, the meeting adopted the minutes/report of the 7th Core Team Meeting, and fixed the date and venue of the 8th Core Team Meeting.
New Leather Strategy for Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe has launched a new strategy for its leather industry with the aim of boosting the whole leather value chain in the country. COMESA, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa, has given its backing to the plan, called the Zimbabwe Leather Value Chain Strategy.
Sindiso Ngwenya, Comesa secretary-general, said at a launch event for the initiative in Bulawayo in mid-June that the Comesa region was losing millions of dollars in potential revenue by exporting raw material that could be made into leather.
“The overall market potential of Comesa leather can grow from an estimated value of raw material of $378 million a year to an estimated value of $875 million for fully finished leathers, which represents a value addition of roughly $500 million or about 150% of the value of raw materials,” he said. “And if all the raw hides and skins are transformed into finished goods like footwear, garments and other leather goods, the industry would balloon to $2.5 billion from the present value of $450 million.”
He said the COMESA region was important to Africa and the world in terms of the size of livestock herds and production of hides and skins.
Source: http://www.leatherbiz.com/fullitem2.aspx?id=130087
A Chinese Tannery Overcomes Initial Obstacles to Find Success in Ethiopia
Workers in China-Africa Overseas Leather Products SC process raw materials in the factory at Sululta, north of Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa. Li Lianxing / China Daily
He Mingliang leather tannery, in central China's Henan province, is a typical success story: Expansion to Africa, a new factory in Ethiopia, sales of leather goods across the globe and a staff of more than 500.
But as with any success story, struggles play an early and defining role. For He's tannery, which had been buying semi-processed leather from Ethiopia since 1985, soaring costs in China during the early 2000s hampered business.
He set his sights on Ethiopia to invest in manufacturing factories, but still had no expansion funds and no basic knowledge of how business was run on the continent.
He says he was scared of possible illnesses in Africa and even regional conflicts.
But He did his homework, making several trips to the country to research how commerce is conducted and to find funding sources. Then came a meeting in Beijing in 2004 with then Ethiopian ambassador Addisalem Balema. Balema encouraged He and took a great interest in the venture plans. With Balema's help, He got in touch with the China-Africa Development Fund in Beijing three years later.
"CADF turned out to be very interested and decided to support us," he says.
The tannery's subsidiary in Ethiopia, the China-Africa Overseas Leather Products SC, is now quickly becoming a model for the leather industry in the country.
Li Jun, project manager of the CADF in Ethiopia, says it decided to support He's project in Ethiopia for several reasons.
"This is fundamentally a mutually beneficial project that could expand Chinese tanneries to Africa. But more importantly, it could lift the entire industry in Ethiopia and benefit farmers at the most basic level," Li says. "It is also a good opportunity to create jobs, which is the priority for Africa's future sustainable development."
Li also says the reason the CADF chose China-Africa Overseas Leather Products is because the Henan-based parent company has been an industry leader in China for more than half a century and CADF believed its technologies and skills could offer a great opportunity to Ethiopia.
The factories were completed in November 2010 in the town of Sululta, to the north of the capital Addis Ababa.
Operations during the first year were rocky, Li says. Many unexpected events brought disruption and at times daunted his investors in Ethiopia.
"Our Chinese staff were beaten by local workers because they didn't like our management system in which several local workers are guided by one Chinese team leader," he says. "More importantly, locals were told by certain people that our factory was severely polluting (Sululta)." He says the company values the environment and that the factory was built with particular attention to environmental protection in order to set a tone for the industry in Ethiopia.
Source: http://africa.chinadaily.com.cn/weekly/2013-06/14/content_16620709.htm
The Fourth Beast to Beauty Conference
The fourth Beast to Beauty conference, jointly organised by leather training consultancy LeatherWise and World Leather magazine, with the support of Pittards, the Scottish Leather Group, the University of Northampton and the Leathersellers Company, took place in Northampton on June 13, 2013. More than 60 delegates, representing tanning groups, major retailers, automotive and luxury brands, leather chemicals manufacturers and a wide range of fashion-focused university and college departments from different parts of the UK attended the conference.
Speakers included Kevin Sefton, one of the co-founders of Glasgow-based handmade footwear brand Govan Originals, colour trends expert Laura Perryman and Rachel Garwood and Jane Mills from the University of Northampton who talked about the role of leather in design education at the university. Mr James Lang, marketing director of the Scottish Leather Group gave a presentation on the work the group has done to reduce its carbon footprint, with the tannery waste-to-energy treatment plant at its Bridge of Weir facility one of the best examples. Reg Hankey, the chief executive of Pittards, also spoke, focusing his presentation on recent efforts in the global industry to counteract misleading anti-leather campaigns.
The conference closed with a discussion involving Gustavo González Quijano, secretary general of COTANCE, and Dr Gerhard Wolf, the head of the leather technical competence centre at chemicals manufacturer BASF. Both participants agreed that there are valid arguments for attributing 0% of the upstream carbon emissions of cows, sheep and goats to leather’s carbon footprint. They expressed hope that the global industry might soon agree on a framework for calculating the carbon footprint of leather and, from there, be able to communicate its position to brands and consumers “with one voice”.
They accepted that tanners might face opposition to 0% from finished product brands, but said this did not mean that what they called a flawed methodology of allocating a share of carbon footprint to “non-determining” by-products of the meat industry was any more valid. Nevertheless, they suggested it ought to be possible for the global leather industry to agree to a compromise on 0% to make discussions between tanners and their customers a bit easier.
Source: http://www.leatherbiz.com/fullitem2.aspx?id=130047
Global Tannery of the Year 2013 Winner Shares its Water Achievements
PrimeAsia China, the third Tannery of the Year Awards programme winner, published an article outlining its water footprint on “China Water Risk” newsletter. China Water Risk is a non-profit initiative dedicated to highlighting water risk and fostering efficient and responsible use of China’s water resources.
In the article, PrimeAsia indicated that based on the Water Footprint Assessment Manual: 2011 it calculates its water footprint at 3.3 litres per square-foot of finished leather, but it said only 1% of the total corresponds to water consumed in its tanneries. PrimeAsia takes responsibility for 5% of a cow’s life-cycle water consumption and its water footprint ends at the door of its customers’ factories.
Breaking down the 3.3 litres of water consumed during the lifecycle of each square-foot of leather, PrimeAsia calculates that 91% is consumed during the life of the cow, 5% is consumed in the beamhouse (PrimeAsia’s two tanneries in Vietnam and in Guangdong Province in China work from wet blue), and 3% is consumed during the manufacture of the chemicals it uses in its processes.
Water-saving practices at both PrimeAsia tanneries include collecting rainwater for use in production processes, reuse of water within the production process and extensive use of recycled water throughout the facilities. The annual company-wide water reduction goal in 2013 is an absolute reduction in water usage of 11% compared to 2012.
Source: http://www.leatherbiz.com/fullitem2.aspx?id=129991
Part II: Some Indicative Prices of Leather and Leather Products
Product name |
Grade |
USD/sqft fob/ori/c/off |
|
Ethiopia |
|
|
|
full aniline |
i-iii |
2.60-3.00 |
|
“ |
iv |
1.95-2.60 |
|
“ |
v |
1.70-1.95 |
|
Semi aniline and golf leather |
i-iii |
2.10-2.70 |
|
“ |
iv |
1.75-2.05 |
|
“ |
v |
1.45-1.75 |
|
Resin lining |
A |
1.25-1.50 |
|
|
B |
0.95-1.20 |
|
Fully finished Cow upper leather |
TR (i/iv) |
1.05-1.50 |
|
|
v |
0.80-1.05 |
|
aniline lining |
A |
0.90-1.15 |
|
|
B |
0.70-0.90 |
|
Kenya/Uganda |
|
|
|
Suspension dried hides |
Weight/pce 8/12 lb |
2.80 nominal |
|
|
iv grade |
2.20 nominal |
|
|
v grade |
1.75 nominal |
|
Wetsalted hides (Kenya) |
|
|
|
|
i/ii |
1.65 |
|
Wetblue hides |
|
|
|
Sqft/pce =av 23/27 |
tr/iv/v/vi |
1.00-1.10 |
|
av 31/33 |
tr/iv/v |
1.10 |
|
av 20/26 |
vi |
0.70 |
|
|
vii or rejects |
0.55 |
|
Sqft/dzn |
t/r iv/v |
68.00 |
|
55/60 |
vi |
36.00 |
|
“ |
vii |
21.00 |
|
“ |
tr/iv/v |
70.00 |
|
Wetblue goats |
|
USD/dzn fob/ori/c/off |
|
sqft/dzn 55/60 |
tr/iv/v |
70.00 |
|
sqft/dzn 70/75 |
|
75.00 |
|
sqft/dzn 55/60 |
vi |
38.00 |
|
sqft/dzn 40/50 |
vii |
22.00 |
|
|
|
|
|
Malawi |
|
USD/kg cfr/ori/c/off |
|
Kg/pce, 14/16 |
i/ii |
1.65-1.68 cfr/ori/c |
|
Suspension dried goatskins Lb/100 pcs, 90/100 |
i/iii |
42.00 cfr/ori/c/off |
|
Drysalted hides kg/pce, 9/+ av 10/11 |
a/b |
1.85 |
|
Sudan |
|
|
| Drysalted hides, kg/pce, av 10/11 | USD/kg cfr/ori/c/off | |
| a/b | 1.85 | |
| Zambia Kg/pce in wetblue (pressed) | USD/pce cif/t/c/off | |
| 10 |
|
29.50 |
| 15 | 43.50 | |
| 19 | 53.50 | |
| 27 | 63.50 |
Source: Compiled from Sauer Report and other sources
Abbreviations
a/b/c; Private quality indication by supplier; 'a' is not necessarily 1st grade, etc
Av: Average
c: cash payment
cif: Cost, Insurance & Freight
fob: Free On Board
off: Offered
ori: Price payable to supplier in country of origin of the goods
pce : Piece
sqft: Square Feet
t: Price Payable to Traders outside the country of origin of the goods
