Italy Leather Industry Suffers Strong Impact From Euro And Benefits Decline

According to Italy's "24 hours Sun" reported on October 17th, due to strong euro and raw material prices, Italy leather industry in the first half of this year is in a bad situation.

According to the data of Italy Federation of tanning and processing enterprises, Italy's leather output dropped by nearly 3 percentage points in the first half of 2007, and the output of leather clothing and leather furniture manufacturers also decreased by 2% and 4% respectively.

Although sales in the first half of the year increased by 3.6%, it was not enough to offset the increase in raw materials (+5.8%), coupled with a relatively heavy tax burden (60%), which led to a decline in the marginal efficiency of the industry.

In terms of exports, Italy has 143 leather exporting countries.

The US market is shrinking, and exports to European countries have increased. The most gratifying thing is that China's exports continue to grow, showing that the demand for high-grade leather in China's domestic market is increasing.

Most of the purchase of raw materials comes from Europe, and the euro's strength is extremely unfavorable.

Because many countries in South America, Africa and Asia impose taxes or prohibit exports of raw leather.

At present, the leather tanning industry in Italy is mainly concentrated in Tuscany, Wineto and Campania, and the characteristics of industrial clusters are obvious.

There were 28 thousand employees, and the total number of enterprises was 2300.