Thailand uses only 30% local hides
According to the president of the Thai Tanning Industry Association (TTIA), over the past decade, the country’s leathergoods industry has been able to acquire only 30% of hides locally due to the diminishing numbers of cattle being raised in the country. President Pranee Kuruvelukorn said that hides are mainly exported from the US, Australia and New Zealand.
This hide shortage has grown progressively worse over time but especially so in recent years, with farmers having to sell their live cattle to buyers in neighbouring countries for higher prices, thereby saving themselves the trouble of slaughtering.
“With much of the slaughtering not being done in Thailand, we don’t have those hides, plus our people have to eat more expensive meat,” said Ms Pranee.
TTIA is urging the Thai government to promote cattle farming in order to provide higher-quality meat to consumers and hides to the tanning industry. Ms Pranee said cattle is an economic asset that should be touted as adding value to all livestock-related industries, from food to tanning and leathergoods.
Local slaughterhouses should be upgraded to international standards and farmers taught how to provide better-quality hides, she said.
Ms Pranee said China has the biggest potential for growth, based on its participation at the All China Leather Exhibition in Shanghai early last month, where TTIA members recorded almost $1 million in orders.
