Ethiopia's Leather Exports Skyrocket

Recognizing the potential of the leather sector in Ethiopia, the Engineering Capacity Building Program (ecbp) is supporting the Ethiopian leather industry to tap into the world market. In 2008, exports in the finished leather and leather products sector have soared by 21.7% totaling US $39.9 million. ecbp contributed to this surge in exports by linking Ethiopian companies with buyers in Europe. The matchmaking activities contributed US $2.91 million to finished leather exports and US $1.29 million to shoe exports, 9.7% and 13% of the exports in the respective sectors.

As the country with the largest number of livestock in Africa, Ethiopia has much to gain from the growing global market for leather – currently estimated at US $40 billion a year. The additional fact that Ethiopia’s sheepskins are sought worldwide for their thinness and durability and its goatskins produce first-rate suede means that Ethiopia is in the perfect position to prosper in the global marketplace.

The designers at Kangaroo shoes diligently work to keep fresh ideas and styles on the shelves of Ethiopia and now Europe.

 

Until recently, however, the possibilities that the leather sector holds have remained largely under utilized. With less than a 0.2 percent share in the global leather market in 2006 Ethiopia was barely exporting any shoes while 11 billion pairs of leather shoes were being produced for export worldwide.

The successes in the leather sector are due to the ecbp leather value chain intervention. The intervention involves the creation of international market linkages through matchmaking and investment promotion, direct re-engineering and technical support for Ethiopian companies, and the support of cooperation among Ethiopian companies to better serve the international markets.

ara Shoes AG from Germany has recognized the fine quality of Ethiopian leather and the capacity of Ethiopia to produce large quantities of shoes to the European markets.

 

An example is the successful matchmaking with one of Germany’s largest shoe producers, ara Shoes AG. The biggest single deal for finished leather and leather products in Ethiopia brought 2.5 million US dollars of additional export revenue for Ethiopian companies Blue Nile Tannery, Ras Dashen Shoes and Kangaroo Shoes. Furthermore, ara is in the process of investing in its own production site in Ethiopia to add to the products it already receives from Ethiopian companies. ara is now in the process of renovating their production facilities and training workers which means that production should begin in early 2009. After one year they plan to be producing 1,500 pairs of shoes per day and after five years production should be at 7,500 pairs per day.