Water challenges spark warning of tannery closures
Industry commentators in Turkey have warned that the scarcity of water there is affecting leather manufacturing in the country, saying that problems with water availability are increasing “day by day” in the country’s leather manufacturing clusters.
Tanners say they are now using lower volumes of water to process hides than before, but availability is an increasing challenge, as are rising water costs.
Sooner or later, commentators have said, difficulties in sourcing water will cause tanneries there to close down.
However, water problems are widespread and, according to recent comments from tanners to leatherbiz, are now affecting production in parts of the world where water shortages were previously very rare.
One leather manufacturer in northern Europe has told us that, following a dry summer in 2022, local authorities had forced him to halt production towards the end of last year. “A few years ago, this would have seemed unthinkable here,” he said. “But the way things are now, I am sure it will happen again.”
He said this had prompted some leather manufacturers in this part of the world to invest in water recovery and recycling systems for the first time.
