Leather goods now nearly 5% of Chinese exports
According to the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA), the country's exports of manufactured leather goods last year totalled $12.48 billion, accounting for 4.8% of the country's total exports, with 90% being sourced between Guangdong, Zhejiang, Fujian and Shichuan provinces.
However, the country's leather good manufacturers are not having it all their own way. Though tariffs are now much less of an issue than they were before country's accession to the World Trades Organiation (WTO), their environmental compatibility is coming under increasing scrutiny abroad.
With this in mind, CLIA has said it is to implement ‘Ecological Leather Product Standard with Genuine Leather Mark’ -a new scheme aimed at elevating the quality of leather goods and reducing the content of potentially harmful chemicals and other components in them.
