The leather-sector faces considerable direct and indirect impact if the US follows through with the threat issued by President Donald Trump at the end of May to apply tariffs to all imports from Mexico, according to data supplied to World Leather by the tanning industry association in the state of Guanajuato, CICUR.

Mexico’s total number of tanners at the moment is 900 and 650 of these are in Guanajuato. In Guanajuato, 85% of the leather manufacturers are classed as small or even micro, while 10% are medium-sized. Only 5% of the 650 are large.

Across the whole of Mexico, tanners process around 50,000 raw cattle hides every day, 35,000 of them in Guanajuato. With an average of 24 production days a month, this indicates 14.4 million hides per year for Mexico, and more than 10 million in Guanajuato.

CICUR’s figures show that Mexico slaughters around 9 million head of cattle per year, which means tanners in Mexico have to import around 5 million hides per year to meet the needs of the industry.

It estimates that 40% of the hides Mexican tanners process at the moment are destined for the automotive industry, while footwear companies consume around 37%. Another 13% goes to soling leather and leathergoods and 10% to furniture.

It says a little under 30% of all the finished leather Mexican tanners produce goes for export to the US.