Monday, May 02, 2011

Minister calls for value addition in leather sector

Minister calls for value addition in leather sector
By Ndinawe Simpelwe
Sun 01 May 2011, 04:00 CAT

LIVESTOCK and fisheries deputy minister Albert Mulonga says the leather sector needs to embark on value addition in order to compete internationally.

Speaking during the supply and demand dissemination workshop on Friday, Mulonga said there was need to change the status quo to embark on value addition initiatives in the entire value chain for leather products.

“This requires investment into new technologies and skills to produce quality leather products,” Mulonga said.

Mulonga expressed happiness that the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) had been working hard to rebrand the leather sectors in the region in order to strengthen intra regional trade and at the same time remain competitive on the international market.

He said value addition was important because it would earn the country some revenue.

“Currently, out of the total hides and skins collected, about 80 per cent are processed into wet blue and exported from Zambia in that form. Further value addition from wet blue to crust, finished leather and leather goods should have earned the country more revenue from exports,” he said.

He said for every US $1.00 of raw hide, there was an equivalent of US $3.00 for finished leather and US $12.00 for finished leather product.

“Investment into value addition technologies and improved manpower skills are key if we are to awaken the sleeping giant,” Mulonga said.

He added that the Comesa region was facing challenges especially in the smallholder farming system where farmers did not know the economic value of hides and skins.

He said there was need to educate farmers about the value of hides and skins.
“Livestock are kept for meat, milk and drought power,” he said.

And Comesa acting secretary general Stephen Karangizi said there was need to develop intra-regional leather and leather products trade by linking SMEs to the regional markets such as South Africa, Egypt and others to identify business opportunities and possible partnerships along the value chain.

He said Comesa, with a population of 430 million people, was a wide market for regional leather products.

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Thursday, January 14, 2010

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.

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