Country hides and skins: Changed markets for a forgotten source

Has the market for country hides and skins dried up, and why?
GF: The hide market, specifically for leather, has been under pressure for the past few years. The global kill continues to rise but leather demand isn’t keeping pace with this increase in supply.
In terms of our business; the leather supply chains have had significant cost impacts with little/no recovery on the selling front.
Input costs such as chemicals, labour, water and electricity continue to escalate, notwithstanding the costs to meet and comply with the global compliance frameworks (e.g. LWG).
The result is that only hides meeting the key criteria for processing can enter the leather supply chains; anything else simply isn’t cost effective.
Unfortunately, the country material too often has flay or curing issues that limit its viability for leather processing.

Are there alternative markets for these hides and skins?
GF: Honestly, I’m not sure. The gelation market, absorbing a significant portion of hides, has managed to balance the supply/demand curve; albeit at very different price points. The gelatin market is available for this material if the costs to reach the plants are viable.

Are South African and Southern African hides (and skins?) finding their way into the West African food market, and if so, though whom? 
GF: I hear there is some movement of material from Zimbabwe and Botswana; but really can’t answer with any certainty.

What businesses are collecting hides and skins in SA, Southern Africa, Africa, for gelation? Do you still have a network of agents, and do they work through your agents? 
GF: We don’t play in this market at all.  Our focus is purely hides/skins for the leather industry.

Is there any indication of numbers and values?
GF: No idea; I can’t believe it’s much though.  The vast percentage of the kill these days is through the abattoirs.  You can see, even over Qurbani, how things have changed.

Is there any incentive to develop traceability and improve standards for country hides and skins?
GF: No; the very nature of this market (plus what I believe are minimal quantities) doesn’t require this.

Is there anyone else you can suggest to help gather this sort of information? 
GF: Not a clue; my gut is there really isn’t much in this space.

S&V African Leather requested input from global gelatin producer Gelita AG, headquartered in Eberbach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. No response had been received at the time of publication. According to its website, its South African plant, in West Krugersdorp, is the sole gelatin plant in the country, supplying two thirds of domestic demand for food, pharmaceutical and other technical applications. Its raw material is bovine hide, “principally sourced from tanning works, slaughterhouses, and meat processors across South Africa and neighbouring countries. This ensures not only the sustainability of our operations but also contributes to the economic fabric of the local communities.”

Cottage industry leather products are a viable industry for rural areas. Think back to H. Procter’s article on preserving the traditional knowledge behind Nguni shields in the last issue. Image: African Crafts Market.

In West Africa, cooked cow hide – ponmo – is a popular street food. To supplement their own sources, hides are imported from East and Southern Africa. Image: foodieng.com.

Preserving raw hides with salt (wet-salted hides) offers better preservation – and better sales value – than the sun-dried hide in the foreground. Image: Farmers’ Weekly.

Among the alternative uses for country hides and skins as leather are rural cottage industries producing leather products from locally processed raw materials.
Impela Trading, based in Ladysmith, KZN, trains people in this economically depressed area in flaying, preservation, small scale processing and leather goods manufacturing.
“The experience of the hide and skin collector in the Eastern Cape highlights the current status of the rural leather industry,” said member Simx Orimo. “The good news alongside this is that intervention training programmes as in place to address this challenge. As fp&m SETA-accredited training providers, we run skills as well as incubation training programmes that enable creators run basic leather enterprises.”