'New stable stage' for China’s leather sector
A report on the China Leather Industry Association's webpage has suggested a “stable stage of development” with sales, profits and exports expected to grow in the high single-digits this year.
However, following the rapid growth in previous years, this has been described as a “new stage of stable”.
At a conference in Beijing, data was presented which was described as pointing to “an unpromising future for the industry”, profit for the industry dropped to an “unsatisfactory” level, but later the report describes a “cautious optimism”.
The most recent Leather Pipeline report on sister website Leatherbiz hinted at the country's future in terms of leather manufacture.
Total sales revenue of leather, fur, leather and fur products and footwear manufacturers with an annual income over RMB 20 million ($3.3 million) reached RMB 1.3 trillion ($120 million). All sub-industries witnessed a decline in growth rates, except the leather garment industry.
Leather goods manufactures were reportedly stung by brands moving production lines elsewhere, “inflated unit prices, increased overall cost and other factors”.
Guangdong imported mostly finished leather, semi-finished leather and tanned hides, accounting for 86% of its total imports.
Between January and February 2015, the industry has produced 72 million sqm of light leather, 11 million pieces of leather garments, 0.6 million pieces of fur garments and 0.58 billion pairs of leather footwear, up 5.7%, 30.6%, 84.2% and 4.5% year-on-year respectively. During the same period, the sales revenue of the leather industry totalled RMB 175 billion, up 8.2% year-on-year, according to the report.
