Kenyan leather body wants tanners to discard poor quality hides
27/09/2018
During a recent workshop on leather branding in Nairobi, a number of industry figures urged manufacturers to come together to support the creation of standards to improve local and foreign market sales.
“Kenya needs to create a unified value parameter agreeable to all manufacturers at various levels of the value chain,” said Beatrice Mwasi, secretary-general of Kenyan leather industry umbrella body Leather Apex. “We need pastoralists to adhere to set herding standards that help improve hides and skins that will later be sent to the tannery. Tanneries must in turn agree on the price and quality of leather to be sold to Kenyan leather products makers.”
She added that tanneries must agree to discard poor quality leather and only sell material that helps Kenya-made products compete on the global market.
For his part, the chief executive of the Kenya Leather Development Council (KLDC), Isaack Noor, called for associations, tanneries and vendors to unite in order to lobby for sector-wide standards. He said this would create value along the entire supply chain.
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