China’s full-year leather imports fell overall, but a mixed bag
Recently published data by China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) sheds light on the country’s leather imports situation in 2020.
The overall volume and value of imports fell year on year, including both raw and tanned (or crust) sheep and lamb skins, tanned or crust bovine and equine hides and skins, post-tanning sheep and lamb leather without wool, plus chamois, patent or metallised leather, among other categories.
More than half of the 27 product categories considered by CLIA in its analysis declined on the previous year.
Interestingly, though, some imports increased. Tariff numbers 3201 (including tanning extracts of vegetable origin), 4103 (“other raw hides and skins”), 6403 (footwear with leather uppers and outer soles of leather, composition leather, rubber or plastics) and 4106 (tanned or crust hides and skins of goats, kids, pigs, reptiles and “other” animals without wool, plus the leather of hairless animals) were among them.
Reportedly, “six categories of shoes and boots made of textile materials” doubled in both import volume and value, accounting for around 22.2% of the total product mix.
The import volume of raw bovine and equine hides, specifically, rose by 23.2% year on year, however, but the value of these imports decreased by 8.1% compared to 2019.
Image: Aokang.
