Maravi

Leather investor calls for value addition to products

Leather investor calls for value addition to products
By Florence Bupe
Thu 14 Jan. 2010, 04:00 CAT

A LEATHER industry investor Mumena Wright has called for value addition to leather products to address the challenge of global market competition.

And Zambia Development Agency (ZDA) export promotion director Glyne Michelo has noted the need for the enhancement of leather industry operations as it has the potential to become one of the country’s top foreign exchange earners.

In an interview, Wright said the leather industry was faced with a number of challenges that were inhibiting its growth.

“We are facing a lot of challenges in the leather industry, the most critical of which is globalisation. We are facing a lot of competition from imported products, and we are not able to compete favourably because the cost of processing leather in Zambia is very high, which makes our products uncompetitive,” she said.

Wright said the global economic meltdown had also negatively affected the industry, with business going down by almost 50 per cent.
“The global financial crisis had a serious impact on the leather industry and business dropped by about 50 per cent. People’s disposable income reduced and they opted to buy alternative materials such as imported fabric and canvas,” she said.

Wright also complained that imitations had worked against the development of the leather industry.
Wright urged the private sector to partner with government in improving the quality of Zambian leather products to be able to compete favourably with other products on the regional and global market.

“Government is trying to help the industry through certain policies and incentives, but we as private sector players have failed to seize these opportunities,” said Wright.
And during a leather industry sensitisation workshop, Michelo urged leather industry players to enhance their operations and take advantage of export markets such as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola, which were growing markets.

The leather industry in 2008 earned the country about US $10 million.
Michelo bemoaned the general lack of value addition to leather products, resulting in weak linkages with communities, and therefore, inadequate impact on the improvement of living standards for citizens.

Labels: GLYNE MICHELO, LEATHER, MUMENA WRIGHT, ZDA

posted by MrK @ 5:26 PM