Indian market on the up
2 February 2010The second day of the India International Leather Fair (IILF) held in Chennai, India was just as busy as the first day on February 2. Crowds flocked to a hot and sultry Chennai Trade Centre to visit companies supplying the tanning and finished leather products industries.
Following a fall in growth in 2009 the Council for Leather Exports (CLE) have announced the market started to grow again from October 2009. 'Though exports increased towards the end of 2009 we expect the export turnover to reduce by 10% for 2009', said Habib Hussain, chairman, CLE.
Despite the fall, if the IILF is anything to go by, then the Indian leather industry should recover in 2010 and everyone Leather International spoke at the show was positive about the event and the general condition of the market. 'In recent times we have taken market share from China and a lot of business from Turkey', says Dr Zackeria Sait, regional chairman - south, CLE.
Indian tanneries produce around 2 billion square feet of leather per annum (10% of the world total) with major tanning clusters in Chennai, Ambur, Ranipet, Kolkata, Kanpur and Jalandhar. India is home to 2091 tanneries (45% in Tamil Nadu, 26% in West Bengal and 18% in Uttar Pradesh.
The final day of the IILF is due to take place on February 3.