Tasman Tanning continues to invest
02/12/2011
Mr Tait said he started in the business 40 years ago when there were at least 20 working bovine tanneries in this part of the world. "Now there's us," he said. Other tanneries in Australasia make wet blue from bovine hides, while some companies concentrate on other raw material, such as lamb and sheepskin or kangaroo.
Tasman Tanning processes 650,000 bovine hides a year, using 300,000 to make around four million square-metres of finished leather and exporting the other 350,000 as wet blue.
The company has experienced a fall in export sales of 25% in the past year, Mr Tait confirmed, and it means he will not be able to offer work to the same number of seasonal employees as usual this summer. But he said the company had budgeted for the downturn and would continue to invest in new technology.
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