Smuggling leaves local leather industry short
31/08/2007
Leather industry representatives in Bolivia have complained that the smuggling of hides out of the country, especially to Argentina and Peru, is leaving their companies short of material to work with.
Tannery owners there have asked the government to redouble its efforts to control illicit cross-border trade in raw hides.
Tanneries and leathergoods manufacturers are equally affected by the shortage in hides in the local market and some businesses have had to cease production temporarily.
Industry representatives insist that only a third of the volume of raw hides they normally receive has been reaching them in the last few months.
Leather companies have held meetings in the last few weeks with various government figures, including high-ranking customs officials, to present their demands, but they have reported that the response from customs has been lukewarm at best.
The president of the Bolivian association of leather chemists and technicians, Antonio Moreira, has told local media that the smuggling problem has left the industry there in an emergency situation. He said that one measure the industry would like the government to take would be to call a temporary halt even to legal exports of raw hides until supply to the local market improves.
He estimated that up to 1,000 bovine, sheep and llama hides are moving across the border into Peru every day. Smaller numbers of goat and bovine hides are also reaching Argentina and Brazil, he added.
Mr Moreira suggested that a good first step would be to increase control in the abbatoirs from which these hides are being sold.
