Government urged to support Tanzanian leather industry
12/07/2010
Leathergoods manufacturers are urging the government to support the industry by providing financial guarantees to the businesses in order to invest in leather industries - a sub-sector that requires high investment capital.
At the Dar es Salaam International Trade Fair (DITF), June 28–July 10, leather industry representatives expressed disappointment at the government’s handling of the leather industry.
A recent livestock census estimated that there were close 20 million cows, goats and sheep in Tanzania, but almost all the hides and skins from the slaughtered animals are exported in raw form. This denies the east African country the benefit of adding value by processing and exporting finished or semi-finished leather and leathergoods.
The executive director and proprietor of the Moshi-based Twin Company Limited, Paul Michael, told local media at the fair that he began manufacturing leathergoods in 1992 but that his company remained at the micro level because of a lack of help from the government, principally in securing credit from the banks.
He has outlet markets mostly in Arusha, Dar es Salaam and Moshi curio shops, but he had secured big export orders in the past from China and the Far East but failed to meet them despite involving other small manufacturers.
The industry would like the government to encourage schools, the police and the armed forces in for example, to purchase shoes from local industries.
The managing director of Jaet Limited, Elibariki Mmari, whose company is based in Mwanza on the southern shores of Lake Victoria and one of the country’s major zones of hides and skins, also complained of a lack of support from the government. He said tanneries require costly capital investments which can only be obtained on bank loans, but that the government has failed to support companies in the sector with loan guarantees.
He mentioned that while other countries such as Kenya, Ethiopia, South Africa and India support their countries’ leather industries, Tanzania had not woken up to the potential benefits the leather industry can bring.
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