New Sam Setter column: South Africa’s success story
14/08/2018
Writing after attending the annual convention of the Society of Leather Technologists and Chemists’ South African section, at which he was a speaker, Mr Setter praises the South African leather sector for not being dependent on external aid organisations or NGOs, an issue he feels strongly about and has discussed in detail in a number of his previous pieces.
“The stakeholders depend on themselves and on the ideas, knowledge and entrepreneurship that they have developed over decades,” he explains, adding that he believes it to be “the most developed leather industry on the continent”.
He also gives an overview of the South African leather industry, focusing in particular on the government’s plans to introduce a new ‘Hide Policy’, which may include a ban on the export of raw hides and a duty on the export of wet blue or wet white.
Although he doesn’t categorically condemn this idea, he warns those in power against following Ethiopia’s example by banning the export of everything except finished leather. “As a result of this policy the Ethiopian leather industry is going from bad to worse,” he says.
The column can be read in full on our blog page.
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