Italy Leather Industry Suffers From Euro Impact And Benefits Decline

According to Italy's "24 hours Sun" report, 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 statistics, in the first half of 2007, the output of leather in Italy dropped by nearly 3 percentage points, and the output of leather clothing and leather furniture manufacturing 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 5.8% of the increase in raw materials, coupled with a relatively heavy tax burden (60%), resulting in a decline in the marginal efficiency of the industry.

At present, Italy leather exports 143 countries.

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

Most of the purchase of raw materials comes from Europe, because many countries in South America, Africa and Asia impose taxes or prohibit the export of raw leather.

At present, there are 28 thousand employees in the leather industry in Italy, and the total number of enterprises is 2300.