Leather council looks at new mkts for raw materials

Council for Leather Exports (CLE) is exploring new markets to import hides and skins and other raw materials to produce value-added leather products for international markets.

The council is planning to take delegates to certain markets in north Africa, central Asia and CIS countries to look for opportunities for import of raw materials. It had recently taken Indian delegates to Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

The Indian leather industry is aiming to augment production, thereby enhancing export to $7.03 billion by 2013-14.

The industry is bestowed with plenty of raw materials as the country is endowed with 21% of world cattle and buffalo and 11% of world goat and sheep population. But to enhance exports and to meet the requirements of specific markets, there is a need to import leather from other countries.

For instance, if an exporter has to supply to Wal-Mart, he would have to import hide and skins of particular thickness and quality as it might not be available in India.

Exporters are already supplying to big players in Europe and America, but to foray into new markets, there needs to be more options for raw material availability so that the quality and other standards are met.

Even now, less than 10% of the raw material requirement of the Indian leather product manufacturers is met by imports. It is not going to make any dampening effect in terms of cost of production. Infact, the prices would be on par or even less than the price quoted in the domestic market, CLE officials said.

On the other hand, CLE is also identifying new markets for leather products export. The council is studying markets like Turkey, Jordan, Latin America, Africa, East Asia and Middle East for exports.

At present, major markets for Indian leather products are Germany with a share of 14.12%, Italy 12.82%, the UK 11.48%, the US 9.98%, Hong Kong 6.61%, Spain 6.09%, France 6.14%, Netherlands 4.13%, the UAE 2.38% and Australia 1.55%.

These 10 countries together accounts for nearly 75.30% of India’s total leather products export. There is also scope for the Indian exporters to enhance their share in the existing operating markets.

?For instance, India’s exports leather products to New Zealand to the tune of $3.6 million. But, there is scope for enhancement, CLE officials said.