European leather has a bright future
24/10/2014
In the build-up to the meeting, COTANCE secretary general, Gustavo Gonzalez-Quijano, said there were still 2,600 tanneries in Europe, although many are small companies. In the COTANCE countries alone, Italy, Spain, France, Germany, Belgium, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Portugal, Bulgaria, the Netherlands, Sweden and Romania, 1,567 companies are involved in producing leather, the organisation said, employing just over 28,000 people.
In presenting an overview of the industry in the COTANCE member countries, Mr Gonzalez-Quijano said the tanning industry in those countries alone has a turnover of more than €7 billion per year and a trade surplus of €1.5 billion per year. He made it clear that these figures refer only to the tanning industry, rather than to the whole leather value chain, which has a much higher turnover. He also made it clear that the figures do not include important leather-producing countries in the European Union, including Austria, Poland, the Czech Replublic, Slovakia, Hungary and Greece, that are not members of COTANCE at the moment.
“This is a sector that is creating wealth and has a bright future,” the COTANCE secretary general said.
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