Serious concern for Tunisia’s leather and footwear industry
27/03/2017
Akram Belhaj, vice president of the federation and president of the national association for shoe manufacturers, said that Tunisia’s footwear industry is faced with many problems, including excessive cheap imports from countries like Turkey and China.
He revealed that the number of footwear and leather factories in Tunisia had dropped to 260, compared to 420 in 2010. Sixty of these are on the point of collapse, he added. There are now only five tanneries operating in the country, down from 20 in 2010.
For his part, the vice president of the national association for shoe manufacturers, Nabil Ben Sassi, said there had been a serious decline in the number of people with the specialist skills needed to work in the leather industry. He attributed this to the degradation of the training infrastructure.
Ezzeddine Moussa, president of the national union of tanners, called for increased measures against the illegal export of raw hides. He revealed that some tanneries are exporting leather without official approval from Tunisia’s National Leather and Footwear Centre (CNCC).
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