Chinese leather goods: To adapt to change is the hard truth of development


China's leather industry, as the pillar of China's light industry, plays an important role in the socialist market economy. In the market economy, the application of leather is extensive. In the leather industry line link, the leather industry leads the development of most industries, such as clothing, furniture, shoes and bags and so on. Therefore, many industries will look at the leather industry in the period of economic adverse conditions.

 

In recent years, the leather industry in our country has constantly innovated and improved, and more and more "Made in China" has emerged in the leather professional market, among which some advanced leather manufacturing technology has reached the international leading level. This impressive achievement is remarkable. At the same time, this achievement also comes from the good opportunity brought by domestic policies, the shortage of international leather market resources and the pursuit of leather products abroad. And, of course, the leather merchants who work hard in the leather industry. In such a good environment, the world provides great prospects for the development of China's leather industry, and also provides a more favorable living space for the majority of leather merchants. Therefore, the scale of the domestic leather industry gradually expanded, from hundreds of enterprises before 2000 to tens of thousands of leather and leather enterprises later.

 

However, with the continuous expansion of the scale of leather industry, leather industry has received a serious test. In 2006, the EU began to increase anti-dumping duties on China's export commodities. This tax increase management regulation of the EU dealt a heavy blow to China's leather industry. Some domestic enterprises, which mainly rely on foreign trade operations to make a living, became helpless in the face of the international environment.

 

For the promulgation of anti-dumping duty, there are many leather enterprises are not ready to meet, when seeing the door of the European Union will be shut out, some enterprises gradually lost the idea of foreign trade, had to retire to the second line, painstaking exploration of the domestic market, there are many enterprises after a fall, even quit the leather stage. Dongguan Leather Goods Factory

 

When the Chinese leather industry was in the doldrums, the European Union ended the anti-dumping duty on Chinese leather goods in April 2011. A month after the European Union ended its anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather shoes. The author learned that in April, the number of European leather shoes in Wenzhou did not appear "blowout" phenomenon, but the average unit price appeared since 2008 for the first time significantly increased, the average unit price of 11.20 dollars, a year-on-year increase of 17.89%, a month-on-month increase of 6.56%.

 

Time turns round, Chinese leather industry through unremitting efforts to usher in the international market again. The end of anti-dumping duties on Chinese leather exports by the EU is a response to an old Chinese saying: "Ten years in the river east, ten years in the river west." This great change of international trade has tested the vitality of China's leather industry and sharpened the management brains of Chinese leather merchants. At the same time, it also tells people to learn the principle of "coping with all changes with no changes" when they encounter difficulties.

More Information


Starr launches a range of renewable carbon products to open new opportunities for sustainable leather

On June 1, 2021, Starr actively promotes environmentally responsible and reliable chemicals with the launch of its new StahlYmpact® line of leather chemical solutions made from renewable materials. As the first step in a sustainable strategy, Starr has launched its first series of renewable carbon polyurethane based on biomass and "carbon capture in CO2" for leather finishes, with a base and top finish of 66%. The product portfolio helps tanners reduce their environmental footprint while ensuring product quality or performance. Across the global leather industry, pressure from consumers and regulators is forcing tanners to improve the environmental impact of their products and services. In response to these issues, Starr launched the StahlYmpact® series to help customers grasp business opportunities in depetrochemicals. First, seven renewable carbon polyurethane solutions for base and top coating were unveiled, with two more products to be launched in the second half of this year. All StahlYmpact® solutions offer the same or better functionality than traditional solutions without the need to replace existing manufacturing equipment. With a strong track record in co-creation and open innovation, Starr has worked closely with a number of partners to develop the StahlYmpact® family. In fact, in order to ensure transparency and accountability to all our downstream partners, this series of products has been tested for biological based carbon content using the ASTM6866 carbon isotope method and has been certified. The StahlYmpact® line uses only futh-ready chemical ingredients, and all products meet the requirements of the Hazardous Chemical Zero Emission (MRSL) Production Restricted Substances List and contain less than 1% volatile organic compounds. "The introduction of the StahlYmpact® series underscores our commitment to using reliable chemicals and reducing the environmental footprint of the leather industry," said JoachimHenkmann, Global Marketing Director of Starr Leather Chemicals. This line of renewable carbon products will help our customers to move easily and efficiently towards sustainable development, seize new business opportunities and enter new markets. In the future, we will continue to work with our partners to further promote the defossilization process in the leather industry, providing solutions based on renewable raw materials from the entire water farm to the finish stage. Based on the present, we will strive to build the StahlYmpact® series into the emerging technologies of the future." Starr: Helping shape a better chemical industry Headquartered in Walwijk, the Netherlands, Starr works with global partners to develop and supply chemicals essential for everyday materials such as footwear, clothing, automotive and household goods. Supported by nearly 2,000 employees around the world, our processing and coating expertise helps these everyday materials perform better for longer while reducing their impact on the environment. Starr was founded in 1930. Nearly a century later, we remain committed to shaping the chemical industry for the better and building a high quality of life around the world. We have identified four areas of strategic importance to achieve our corporate goals: digital transformation, open innovation, renewable materials and sustainable development. We will work with our value chain partners in these areas to create more value for our employees, customers, investors and the whole society.


In the first five months of this year, both import and export of leather and leather products maintained growth

Our leather industry is typical export-oriented industry, depending on foreign market is high. Imports are mainly leather products, raw materials such as rawhide and wet blue leather, while exports are mostly shoes and manufactured goods. According to the newly released statistics, during the first five months of this year, the export value of leather, fur, goods and footwear products reached 28.175 billion US dollars, an increase of 37.3% over the same period last year. Imports amounted to $3.862 billion, up 74.5 percent year on year. Import growth was 37.2 percentage points higher than export growth. Imports maintained rapid growth From the perspective of segmented products, the growth rate of manufactured goods picked up significantly. Footwear continued to be the biggest contributor to imports. From January to May, 104 million pairs of footwear products were imported, with a value of $2.747 billion, up 21.9% and 47.0% respectively year-on-year. It is worth noting that the import of leather shoes is growing rapidly. From January to May, a total of 28,642,500 pairs of leather shoes were imported, with the amount reaching 1.095 billion US dollars, up 26.7% and 59.8% compared with the same period last year, respectively. The growth of the import volume and the amount of leather shoes were 4.8 and 12.8 percentage points higher than the total import volume of shoes, respectively. While a low import base last year was an important factor, it still reflects signs of a slight pickup in demand for leather shoes. Leather cases and bags are the second largest imports. Imports from January to May reached 51.305 million, or $2.675 billion, up 29.5 percent and 132.3 percent, respectively, over the same period last year. The third category of imported products is rawhide and semi-finished leather. Driven by multiple factors such as low international raw leather prices, increasing demand from downstream markets, and stocking up during the low price period, imports of raw leather and semi-finished leather showed an increasing trend from January to May this year. Among them, the import of rawhide was 557,400 tons, the amount of 514 million US dollars, up 13.6% and 22.0% year on year respectively; The import of semi-finished leather was 250,500 tons and $441 million, up 20.2% and 33.6%, respectively, compared with the same period last year.


Specification for size calculation of genuine leather

1, the unit of measurement of leather usually has area and weight two ways: the square foot is often used in China, Hong Kong and Taiwan is often used in the square foot. Among them: 1 square foot = 30 cm *30 cm, 1 square foot = 25 cm *25 cm Japan and other countries are usually according to the DM leather unit, 1DM = 10 cm *10 cm; Europe and the United States and other countries are usually according to the weight (ounce) as the leather unit, specific according to different thickness and leather to determine the price per ounce; In China, some corner scraps are often sold by weight (KG). 2. The area of leather material is measured by the factory consumption leather machine. When measuring, all the corners and corners are calculated. The area can not be calculated by measuring the longest edge * the widest edge of leather, and because leather is of irregular shape, a square foot of leather is not exactly 30 cm *30 cm, and it is difficult to calculate the corners when we observe with the naked eye or measure with a ruler. So usually what we see is less than the theoretical area we calculated. 3. The length of a full-grown cowhide is about 250cm, the widest part is about 200cm, and the area is about 50-54 square feet. The average length of a pig's skin is about 110 centimeters, the widest part is about 90 centimeters, and the area is about 10 to 13 square feet. The length of the whole sheepskin is about 80 centimeters, the widest part is about 60 centimeters, and the area is about four to six square feet. This is just an average, and the actual size of each leather will vary greatly. 4, the actual sales of leather is not all the whole, some half a sheet, some a quarter of a sheet, some extremely irregular shape, such as the side leather, usually 20-40 cm wide, arc is a long strip. 5. Therefore, the amount of leather used in our calculation is calculated according to square feet, and there will be the loss of the whole skin and the actual loss, which is also the reason for the difference between the results calculated by many customers and us.