2022 was undoubtedly the year of the recovery of exports from the tanning industry in Spain. Foreign sales of leather and hides closed 2022 with a significant increase compared to 2021 and before the pandemic in 2019. In this way, the recovery of foreign sales of all subsectors (processed leather, semi-tanned leather and raw hides), marking an export record not reached in decades by the Spanish sector.
According to data from the General Directorate of Customs, in 2022 compared to 2021, exports of raw hides grew by 2.5% (3.9 million euros more), those of semi-tanned hides shot up by 14.9% (9.5 million euros more) and those of tanned hides increased by 24.8% (84.3 million euros more).
If we compare the accumulated figures for 2022 with those of 2019, prior to the covid-19 pandemic, sales of raw hides increased by 5.3%, while semi-tanned hides increased by 28.9% and those of tanned hides, 13.4%.
Imports
Regarding imports of hides and leather, in 2022 compared to 2021, purchases abroad of raw hides increased by 33.6% (18.6 million euros more); the import of semi-tanned hides, 41.4% (34.7 million euros more) and, finally, those of tanned hides, 33.3% (73 million euros more).
In relation to the accumulated figures for 2019, sales of raw hides increased by 39.1% and semi-tanned hides by 22.5%, while those of tanned hides decreased by 6.2%.
Consequently, the trade balance for leather in 2022 showed an imbalance in general terms in favor of exports of 167.8 million euros.
Let’s start with a summary of the numbers: “The 1,161 exhibitors at Lineapelle 101,” reads a note, “from 42 countries (61.7 percent Italian, 38.3 per cent foreign), welcomed more than 22,000 buyers and trade professionals to their stands. In other words, “42 percent more than the previous edition dedicated to summer collections (February 2022), 6 percent more than the winter edition (September 2022).” This would be enough, then, to share that this edition, which came in the midst of a complex and slow economic situation, was “energetic and superstimulating.”
Splenda Leather in Milan
Splenda Leather has participated in this new edition of Lineapelle Fair. Undoubtedly one of the most relevant events in the sector and one that we have attended for many years.
This has been a highly positive edition. Once the global health emergency is over, we have once again been able to hold numerous meetings with suppliers and customers and we have been able to perceive first-hand the new imminent trends in our sector. And, above all, we have come back with a conclusion: the health of our sector is strong and the future hopeful.
Energetic, superstimulating
“It was supposed to be the edition of the complete return to the pre-pandemic dimension and which, as its slogan stated, set itself the goal of making tomorrow bloom,” Lineapelle writes. So, it did.” Dedicated to the 2024 summer season and held February 21-23, 2023, at Fieramilano Rho, the 101st edition of the show “closed under the banner of great energy and a series of stylistic and business stimuli, which were confirmed by the high turnout of buyers and the quality of the networking work carried out at the fair. A result of great positivity confirmed by the fast-growing numbers, which consolidate its role as the only global reference show for the fashion, luxury and design supply chain.”
Renewed internationality
At the test of Lineapelle 101 (the fair that closed the train of exhibition events organized by the associations involved in Confindustria Moda) was the leather supply chain, which, after the great suffering of the pandemic, found a fair that had returned to its pre-Covid dimension. Here, then, was the hoped-for “return to pre-pandemic internationality,” with 41 per cent of visitors arriving from abroad and a particular brilliance on the part of visitors from Germany, Spain, France, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, as far as Europe is concerned. Solid presence of Turkish operators, while from Asia very interesting and reassuring were the entries of Japanese and Korean buyers, along with the initial return of Chinese.”
Market Sensations
In terms of business, “Lineapelle 101 intercepted a complex economic phase, slowed down-after a positive 2022-by a series of factors (from the war in Ukraine to the inflationary trend) that, according to exhibitors’ statements, could nevertheless begin to unblock the market between the end of the first and the beginning of the second quarter, thanks also to the reopening of China.”
2021 was a year marked by the covid-19 pandemic. Its irruption and rapid expansion in early 2020 forced a large part of the countries around the world to implement rigorous confinement measures and mobility restrictions, which caused a slowdown in international trade. Exports and imports fell sharply for much of 2020, and it took until well into 2021 for faint signs of recovery to begin to be perceived. 2021 was, therefore, a year of transition to normalize an economy sharply damaged by the new coronavirus. Of course, this situation also affected the global balance of tanned and leather-made articles.
According to the French National Leather Council’s (CNC) ‘World Leather Trade in 2021’ report, China sold 28% of the value of total exports of leather products in the world. Compared to 2020, China grew by 0.6%. For its part, Italy, the second largest exporter of leather products, accumulated 14.3% of the value of world sales in 2021 (1% more than in 2020); while Vietnam, in third position in this ranking, accounted for 12% of the total (1.4% less). For their part, other European countries such as France and Germany also established themselves as large sellers of leather and fur-related products during the past 2021. The former accumulated 6.3% of the value of exports (0.4% more than in 2020), while Germany concentrated 4% (+0.1%). Although China continues to be the world’s leading exporter, its loss of influence is confirmed year after year, taking into account that in 2010 the value of its foreign sales of leather and fur items accounted for 45% of the total worldwide.
By continent, 54% of total exports of fur and leather goods came from Asia (same percentage as in 2020), compared to 41% from European countries (1% more than in 2020).
By product type, China continues to be the country that sells the most leather footwear (30.9% of total exports) and the most leather goods (29.5%). For its part, Italy capitalizes on exports of clothing and leather accessories (21.2%) and tanned skins by value (23.7%). Meanwhile, the United States leads foreign sales corresponding to raw skins and leather (24.9%).
Leather in Spain
The world trade of leather in 2021 from the CNC also highlights some interesting data from our country. For example, it points out that Spain is the sixth largest exporter of raw fur and leather in the world, accumulating 4.3% of foreign sales of this product in 2021. Its main clients are Italy, which buys 39.9% of its total exports of raw skins; China, with 27.4%, and Portugal, with 10.3%. On the other hand, our country is the twelfth largest importer of this product, accumulating 1.6% of the total. Its main suppliers are France, with 21%; Portugal, with 20.1%, and Italy, with 16.1%.
As for tanned leather, Spain is the ninth largest exporter of tanned leather in the world, accumulating 3.1% of foreign sales of this product in 2021. Its main clients are Italy, which buys 28.2% of its total exports of tanned skins; France, with 21%, and Portugal, with 14.1%. On the other hand, it is the thirteenth largest importer of this product, accumulating 2.5% of the total. Its main suppliers are Italy, with 42.9%; Nigeria, with 9.4%, and Egypt, with 4.8%.
This article tackles the following misrepresentations:
MYTH: It is cruel to make leather from animal hides and skins.
FACT: The hides and skins are a by-product of the meat industry and only become available after slaughter.
MYTH: There are better uses for the hides and skins.
FACT: There are some other uses, but for thousands of years, people have found making leather to be the best way to make the most of the material available. In many parts of the world, the only other realistic option would be for the material to go to waste, which would give meat companies two big headaches, a financial one because of lost revenue from tanners and because of the cost of disposal, and an environmental one because of waste management practices in many parts of the world.
The volume of hides and skins coming as a by-product from the global meat industry is enormous. Figures suggest the meat industry generates around 275 million cattle hides a year, along with 540 million sheepskins and 425 million goatskins. The leather industry buys up much of this by-product, which otherwise would mostly go to waste, and transforms it into one of the most versatile and attractive materials on earth.
The weight of the hides and skins the meat industry casts off each year is likely to be around 8 million tonnes for cattle hides, 375,000 tonnes for sheepskins and 300,000 tonnes for goatskins. This means that the meat industry generates almost 8.75 million tonnes of waste per year in the form of animal hides and skins.
Disposing of this waste would cause severe problems for all cities and countries where animal slaughter and meat processing takes place, but specific to the developing world, it would exacerbate an already serious municipal solid waste situation. Municipal solid waste almost doubled in the first decade of this century to reach 1.3 billion tonnes in 2010. It is expected to reach 2.5 billion tonnes a year by 2025. At the moment, around 15 million of the poorest people in the world scrape a living by picking out from municipal solid waste things they will try to sell. The presence of large volumes of perishable waste material from the meat industry could have serious consequences for their health.
In parallel, the meat industry needs to consider how much money it would have to spend to manage its hides and skins in the same way as other waste, an increasingly costly business. The UK, for example, imposes a landfill tax that will reach £94.15 per tonne in April 2020, an increase of 11.5% on the 2016 figure. At these rates, putting its by-product into landfill in the UK would cost meat companies more than £800 million per year, without factoring in transportation or labour costs. This cost would, in all likelihood, be passed on to consumers, making meat more expensive and less accessible.
This article argues that the leather industry does the meat industry and society at large a great service by taking waste material and converting it into leather for shoes, accessories, clothing and upholstery. Tanners and brands selling finished products made from leather should remind their customers of this in the face of questions about the sustainability of the leather industry.
In December 2019, the European Commission published a 24-page document to explain a set of policy initiatives it is calling The European Green Deal, which has the aim of “resetting” the organisation’s commitment to tackling climate and environment-related challenges. The document describes such an undertaking as “this generation’s defining task”.
It wants the European Union (EU) to continue to be a prosperous body and for its economy to grow, but it wants this growth to become “decoupled” from the use of new resources. Renewable resources and the reuse of resources already in circulation will be fine, as long as they can be produced or recovered in sustainable ways.
In fact, this is precisely what the future looks like: using what we can grow and recover to make the products we use to live, keeping things for a long time, repairing them when we need to, passing them on for someone else to use when we no longer can or want to and, eventually, taking the product back and recovering the materials it’s made from and giving these a second, third, fourth, fiftieth life. Materials must go round in circles; as little as possible must go to waste.
Global questions
These are global questions, of course, which the European Commission acknowledges. It says in the December document that the EU will “use its influence, expertise and financial resources” to convince companies and governments around the world to join it on a sustainable path. As “the world’s largest single market”, the EU believes it can set standards that will apply across global value chains. The Commission has said it will use its economic weight to shape international standards that are in line with its environmental and climate ambitions.
In the Green Deal, it presents an initial roadmap of the policies and measures that it wants business leaders, politicians and people in the EU and around the world to take to contribute to the objectives of achieving climate neutrality by 2050 and of helping the United Nations meet its Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. It proposes to set up a “carbon border” so that products entering the EU from external countries may incur a carbon tax if “differences in levels of ambition” persist in their countries of origin. Therefore, cutting corners in seemingly low-cost outsource manufacturing locations will prove to be a false economy and companies that continue to pursue this practice may find that they cannot sell their products in the EU because the penalties in place will make these imports less affordable than alternative products made in the correct way. The correct way is circular.
Action needed now
The European Commission believes a move to a circular economy is an essential part of its plan. It says it could take 25 years to transform supply chains from the linear model of make-sell-use-throw away and instead make them circular, with manufacturers taking by-products from each other to keep adding value and nothing going to waste. But it insists that action needs to take place now so that, by the target date of 2050, we can have sustainable ways of making and consuming things.
“From 1970 to 2017, the annual global extraction of materials tripled and it continues to grow,” the Green Deal document says. “About half of total greenhouse gas emissions and more than 90% of biodiversity loss and water stress come from resource extraction and processing of materials, fuels and food. The EU’s industry remains too linear and dependent on a throughput of new materials extracted, traded and processed into goods, and finally disposed of as waste or emissions. Only 12% of the materials it uses come from recycling.”
In the document, the European Commission says it wants to support and accelerate industry’s transition to the circular economy and the Green Deal contains a new circular economy action plan. Part of this will be to take action to stimulate markets, inside and outside the EU, for circular products, encouraging the companies that make these products to create new, green jobs. It will support the circular design of all products and will prioritise reducing and reusing materials ahead of recycling them.
This circular economy action plan will also include measures to encourage consumers to choose reusable, durable and repairable products, handing a competitive advantage to companies whose products or materials meet that description. It says new business models based on renting and sharing goods will play a role “as long as they are truly sustainable and affordable”. The Commission says it will tackle false green claims, vowing that companies engaging in green- washing will end up red-faced, named and shamed.
Public authorities, including the EU institutions, are to lead by example and ensure that their procurement is green. Legislation and guidance on green public purchasing will follow. Billions of euros are at stake here. Companies that verifiably meet the green criteria will be the ones winning the contracts.
Circular economy horizons
It has much to say about waste, making it clear that if waste cannot be avoided, “its economic value must be recovered and its impact on the environment and on climate change avoided or minimised”. Here, too, there will be new legislation, including targets and measures for tackling waste generation. In parallel, the Green Deal document makes clear, “companies should benefit from a robust and integrated single market for secondary raw materials and by-products”.
At the start of this new decade, in which progress is essential if the global economy is to hit its 2030 and 2050 targets, all of these ideas seem sound and well thought- through. It will be obvious to readers of World Leather magazine that, in leather, the European Commission already has in front of its nose a clear example of a production sector that can already meet all of its circular economy requirements. Leather and the circular economy are a perfect match. And yet, the December 2019 document explaining The European Green Deal makes no mention of leather. Zero.
We can say on the one hand that this is disappointing but it’s no surprise, in truth. The European Commission published an earlier document at the end of 2015 called EU action plan for the circular economy. This one made no direct reference to leather either. As in the 2019 document, though, there are lots of indirect references that show how well leather ties in with this concept. Both European Commission documents fail to make the connection between leather and the circular sourcing, circular production and circular consumption arguments they put forward as a model for the future. It’s obvious that the responsibility for establishing those connections lies with the leather industry.
New platform
For this reason, World Leather has decided to begin 2020 with a new Leather and the Circular Economy section. We will provide a platform for tanners, leather chemical companies and finished product manufacturers to share their opinions and experiences on this subject. For millennia, skilled people have been taking a by-product from meat and, rather than let it go to waste, have turned it into a material whose versatility, durability, naturalness, sensuality, renewability and beauty knows no parallel. To use leather in shoes, furniture, automotive, aviation and other forms of transport, interior design, handbags or apparel is to choose a raw material that might, otherwise, have gone to waste. It is a material that you can repair and recover for reuse at the end of a product’s useful life, preventing waste again and avoiding the need to extract new resources for the products we buy. It’s the circular economy material par excellence and it’s time more people realised that.
Our Leather and the Circular Economy section will include two types of articles: some covering the thought leadership on the circular economy that people across the leather industry are demonstrating, others covering case studies from companies that make or use leather to showcase their circular stories. The aim is to keep publicising examples of the leather industry’s circular economy credentials.
To make the connection clear, we have picked out ten aspects of the way the best in the business make and use leather and tied them in with the policy details that have come to light so far in the documents from the European Commission. If asked to show why leather is an ideal example of a circular economy product, anyone in the industry will be able to point to these ten reasons. We are pleased to share these ten criteria in the infographic above and we are delighted to offer our first circular economy thought leadership and circular story articles in the December 2019-January 2020 issue of World Leather.
Leather Naturally has recently published a version translated into Spanish, together with the Acexpiel association, of its ‘Guide to Modern Leather Making’.
This guide has been created to be a useful tool for anyone who wants to know about leather. In particular, it has been written for designers and product developers who may not have formal leather experience, students of fashion, interior, automotive and retail teams who want to be better informed about the leather used in the products they sell. Its simple language makes it easy to understand and accessible to everyone.
The Guide provides an overview of hides, leather processing, leather properties, leather controls, leather biodegradability, wastewater treatment, and a look into the future of business.
Now that the Christmas holidays are approaching, we found it very interesting and fun to share this proposal from Leather Naturally with you.
Following the instructions in this post you can transform leather scraps into your own handcrafted Christmas ornaments. Perfect for any tree, these leather ornaments can be made in any colour you like and even better, are a great way to use up leather scraps from other projects, making them stylish and sustainable.
Designed by Georgie from Hands of Tym, follow her instructions below to create crafted additions to your own Christmas tree. And have a Happy Holidays!
The undersigned representatives of the global leather industry are united in our conviction that natural materials, such as leather, have a vital role to play in addressing the challenges of climate change. Leather is a natural material, crafted from a raw material that arises as a waste from the production of the food that we all need. A leather supply chain that respects the role of livestock in regenerating soil, that avoids the waste of an unavoidable by-product and leads to the production of long-lived and readily disposable products can help limit the harm caused by fossil fuel-based synthetic materials.
The choices we make as consumers, and in particular, the materials used in the products we buy, have a significant impact on the environment. The carbon in leather is biogenic and a component of the natural carbon cycle of the planet. The raw materials of leather production, hides and skins, are an inevitable, renewable by-product of feeding the global population. To produce leather out of a waste stream is to honour Earth’s intrinsic circular nature. Leather is not fossil-based carbon and when leather reaches the end of its life, it can be safely returned to the soil as compost. Leather does not create micro-plastics or linger for millennia in landfills. The majority of the world’s leather is made responsibly and does not harm the planet.
If we are to prevent further damage being done to the planet, we must learn to make the best use of the resources available and to do so without diminishing them or causing harm to the environment. It should not be acceptable that we are wasting huge volumes of a natural, readily available versatile raw material in hides and skins. Every year, an estimated 120 million hides, equivalent to approximately 600 million square metres of leather, are thrown into landfill, creating nearly 15 million metric tonnes of CO2 emissions. Furthermore, this wasted leather will be replaced with fossil fuel-derived synthetic alternatives, with the additional emissions and impacts that entails. In the process, we are losing the opportunity to put shoes on over 2.5 billion pairs of feet. That’s 33% of the world’s population that we could provide shoes for.
We urge people to stop and to think. To decide for themselves whether they truly believe that plastics are better for our environment than natural, renewable, biodegradable materials. We believe that the use of leather can support our journey to living in harmony with our planet. Leather is the ultimate responsible legacy – it lasts for decades, encouraging re-use and slow-fashion. The industry is modern, the chemicals are safe, the material is an ideal choice for a sustainable future.
Therefore, we, the undersigned organisations, once again call on the COP forum to…
…Recognise the cyclical, climate efficient nature of natural fibres and their potential for a positive contribution to reducing the climate impacts of consumer products.
…Encourage the use of natural fibres wherever feasible and reduce unnecessary reliance on fossil-fuel-based materials.
…Support LCA methodologies that accurately account for the environmental impact of all materials, including end of life properties.
…Promote ‘slow fashion’, durable products, and items that can be used many times, repaired and refurbished, and last for years.
Signatories to the Leather Manifesto
Asociación Española del Curtido (ACEXPIEL – Spanish Tanners’ Association)
Associação Portuguesa dos Industriais de Curtumes (APIC – Portugal Tanners’ Association)
Australian Hide Skin and Leather Exporters’ Association Inc. (AHSLEA)
Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB)
Centro Tecnológico das Indústrias do Couro (CTIC – Leather Center in Portugal)
China Leather Industry Association (CLIA)
Confederation of National Associations of Tanners and Dressers of the European Community (COTANCE)
International Council of Hides, Skins and Leather Traders Association (ICHSLTA)
International Council of Tanners (ICT)
International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies (IULTCS)
Fédération Française des Cuirs et Peaux (FFCP – French Hides & Skins Association)
Fédération Française Tannerie Megisserie (FFTM – French Tanners Association)
Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA)
Leather Cluster Barcelona (LCB)
Leather Naturally (LN)
Leather UK (LUK)
Leather Working Group (LWG)
One 4 Leather (O4L)
Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists (SLTC)
Sustainable Leather Foundation (SLF)
Swedish Tanners Association
Turkish Leather Industrialists Association (TDSD)
UNIC Concerie Italiane (Italian Tanneries Association)
Verband der Deutschen Lederindustrie e.V. (VDL – German Leather Federation)
Wirtschaftsverband Häute/Leder (WHL – German Hide and Leather Association)
Spanish exports of hides and leather continue to offer positive data. During the first eight months of the year, the value of the sector’s sales abroad exceed those registered in 2019, before the covid-19 pandemic broke out. Specifically, exports from the finished leather subsector reach one of the highest values in recent years.
In this way, according to data from the General Directorate of Customs, during the first eight months of 2022 compared to 2021, exports of raw hides grew by 12.6% (12.3 million euros more), those of semi-tanned hides soared 7.4% (3.1 million euros more) and those of tanned hides increased 32% (66.4 million euros more).
If we compare the accumulated figures for 2022 with those of 2020, Spanish exports of raw hides rose by 43.6%; those of semi-tanned hides, 55%, and those of tanned hides, 53.6%. For its part, in relation to January-August 2019, sales of raw hides increased by 6.9%, while semi-tanned hides increased by 25.9% and those of tanned hides, by 11.3%.
Imports
Regarding imports of hides and leather, between January and August 2022 compared to the previous year, purchases abroad of raw skins increased by 27.9% (9.8 million euros more); the import of semi-tanned skins, 56.7% (28.2 million euros more) and, finally, those of tanned skins, 43% (56.5 million euros more).
In relation to the accumulated figures for 2020, imports of raw skins increased by 40%; those of semi-tanned skins, 75.4%, and those of tanned skins, 47.2%. For its part, in relation to January-August 2019, sales of raw hides increased by 32.7% and semi-tanned hides, by 21.2%, while those of tanned hides decreased by 11.6%.
Consequently, the leather trade balance in the first eight months of 2022 showed an imbalance in general terms in favor of exports of 118.6 million euros.
The Leatech Project, coordinated by the A3 Leather Innovation Center of the UdL in Igualada (Barcelona), is born to coordinate and prepare a group of higher education institutes specialized in the tanning activity to implement a complete training program.
The A3-UdL center, in collaboration with France’s Itech, Turkey’s EGE University and Mexico’s Ciatec, have agreed to join forces and experiences to offer a 120-credit master’s degree in leather, which will qualify students for high-ranking positions in the global leather industry and its international value chain. The master will be taught in English in different facilities and will focus on innovation, circularity and sustainability.
If the project is finally approved, the Erasmus Mundus program will provide financing for sixty students in 2023 including travel, accommodation, per diems and tuition fees.
The promoters of the Leatech Project propose to participate in this previous survey.
This is an initiative that responds to the growing need in the sector for highly-skilled professionals who can hold positions of great responsibility and contribute to the growth and advancement necessary to take on the great challenges facing the industry today and in the coming years.
Utilitzem cookies al nostre lloc web per oferir-vos l'experiència més rellevant en recordar les vostres preferències i visites repetides. En fer clic a "Acceptar", vostè consenteix l'ús de TOTES les galetes. No obstant això, podeu visitar Configuració de cookies per proporcionar un consentiment controlat.
Aquest lloc web utilitza cookies per millorar la vostra experiència mentre navega pel lloc web. D'aquestes cookies, les que es classifiquen com a necessàries s'emmagatzemen al vostre navegador, ja que són essencials per al funcionament de les funcions bàsiques del lloc web. També utilitzem cookies de tercers que ens ajuden a analitzar i comprendre com utilitza aquest lloc web. Aquestes galetes s'emmagatzemen al vostre navegador només amb el vostre consentiment. També teniu l'opció d'excloure's d'aquestes galetes. Tot i això, l'exclusió d'algunes d'aquestes galetes pot afectar la vostra experiència de navegació.
Les cookies necessàries són absolutament imprescindibles perquè el lloc web funcioni correctament. Aquesta categoria només inclou les cookies que garanteixen les funcionalitats bàsiques i les característiques de seguretat del lloc web. Aquestes vno emmagatzemen cap informació personal.
Totes les cookies que no siguin especialment necessàries per al funcionament del lloc web i que s’utilitzen específicament per recopilar dades personals de l’usuari a través d’anàlisis, anuncis o altres continguts integrats s’anomenen cookies no necessàries. És obligatori obtenir el consentiment de l’usuari abans d’utilitzar aquestes galetes al vostre lloc web.
