Brazil now has 222 working tanneries, with 160 of them active in export markets. Letícia Luft, the manager of the Brazilian Leather Project, a joint venture between tanning industry body CICB and export promotions agency Apex Brasil, shared these figures at the recent Tanning Industry Leadership Summit at the All China Leather Exhibition in Shanghai.

She said Brazil has a number of structural advantages when it comes to leather manufacturing because the country has the biggest commercial cattle herd in the world and generates 40 million cattle hides and 5 million sheep, goat and fish skins every year.

“We have a long history of making leather in Brazil,” she told the audience, “and we are very proud of it.”

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