Exotics: Ostrich leather - Strong demand continues

Francois de Wet…A positive couple of years, and a positive outlook.

Mossel Bay, W. Cape, SA – Overall, we are very satisfied with the situation where ostrich leather is today.
Overall demand globally is fairly strong, and at fair prices.

There is quite a strong demand, especially from fashion houses in Europe and specifically the top end fashion houses. This demand didn’t go down during good covid – we experienced strong demand throughout that time and demand now is stronger than it was 2020.

Demand for Western ware in general is good in the United States, and demand for ostrich leather cowboy boots specifically is strong, and we have exported very good volumes to the US and Mexico over the past 12 months and also during the period June 2021 to June 2022. At the moment we do not foresee a slackening in this demand.

Demand in the Pacific Rim is low, and has been for the past 3 or 4 years. What we see there is that European fashion houses are selling ostrich leather handbags in the Far East under their own brands. In the future, we will depend on those brands selling ostrich leather products into China, especially, but also into Japan and Korea.

We enter the new financial year now with a positive outlook on global demand.

For the producers, the overall income from leather, feathers and meat for the past year has been good. With the good rains we have had in the Klein Karoo, the Southern Cape and the Eastern Cape, where we get our ostriches, we expect to slaughter 10% more ostriches in the current slaughter season.