ZimTrade, Zimbabwe’s export promotion body, has urged Zimbabwean tanners to upgrade their tanning processes in order to improve the quality of the finished leather they are supplying to the industry. In the organisation’s latest report, it said the sector — which once employed as many as 5,600 workers but now only employs just over 1,000 — was not in a good state. “Since 2016, ZimTrade engaged PUM to offer technical support to players in the leather sector. Observations made during these intervention programmes reflected a need for Zimbabwean tanners to upgrade their tanning processes in order to improve the quality of the finished leather supplied to downstream industry,” the report reads in part. In a bid to revive the sector, ZimTrade and PUM will next week hold the Zimbabwe tanneries workshop in Bulawayo. PUM is a Dutch organisation comprising of experts who voluntarily offer their knowledge to SMEs in developing and emerging countries. The leather value chain has the potential to increase employment creation through value-addition programmes if adequate and quality leather is supplied to downstream industries.
Source – Leather International.
