Ethiopia: second new tannery to start production in 2011
Another new tannery under construction in Modjo, Ethiopia, is expected to become operational within the next six months. This follows the news that Friendship Tannery, a leather processing factory established by Chinese investors in Ethiopia, is set to start production in April 2011.
The second tannery is being constructed by the Farida Group, an exporter of leather and leather footwear based in India. It will be the company’s first tannery in Africa. Construction started on three hectares at an estimated cost of about $4 million, on February 1, 2011.
“We expect to finish the construction by the end of July 2011, at which point we will start production of leather crusts to be exported to India for the production of leather products at the company’s factories there,” said Sampad Chatterjee, a civil engineer for the tannery.
Farida Group, a multinational company that was established in 1957, has factories in India, the US, Canada, Singapore, and China, and chose Ethiopia as its first destination in Africa due to the availability of cheap raw materials, Mr Chatterjee claimed.
There are seven operational tanneries in Modjo, out of which Ethiopian Tanneries is the largest in the country. The recently privatised tannery is owned by a UK investment group and has a daily production of 12,000 skins and 1,300 hides.
Farida’s construction project is currently being held back by the shortage of electricity and a cement shortage, which Mr Chatterjee said the Ministry of Industry (MoI) promised to solve within a week.
The other tanneries in Modjo are Modjo, Colba, Mesaco Global, East Africa, Adama, and Gellan tanneries. They are increasing in number; apart from the two under construction, another is being planned.
