Cuba wants to make more of its hides and skins
22/11/2013
One of the areas that the government has said needs to improve is the flow of raw material from abattoirs, controlled by the ministry of agriculture, and tanneries, such as those at Caibarién in the province of Villa Clara and at Camagüey. Cuba wants to produce enough leather to export some overseas as well as to have enough for its own needs.
Figures for 2012 put the island’s cattle herd at 4 million head and said a total of almost 1.4 million head of cattle, sheep and goats were slaughtered in the course of the year. Cuba also has more than 700,000 horses, and although the government recorded a figure of zero for horse slaughter, it has said some horse hides must have been produced, even if only from horses dying from natural causes.
What is missing is an account of how many hides and skins from these animals reached tanneries in Cuba, although official figures for the previous year, 2011, suggest that tanneries in Cuba, which are state-owned, exported 1.6 million finished or semi-finished hides. This contrasts with a figure of 3.5 million in the year 2000.
External critics of the government have said a lack of investment in the raw materials supply chain has held the tanning industry in Cuba back, with transportation, storage facilities for hides and skins and even salt severely lacking in some parts of the country leading to thousands of hides going to waste.
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