Quimser go for global growth

Until recently, the Spanish speciality leather chemical company, Quimser, have been little known outside of their domestic market. However, Pere and Salvador Esquerra, the second generation of the family-owned business, have ventured into foreign markets. Approximately 20% of production is now exported directly with an additional amount exported indirectly. 'Our traditional market is Spain but we took the decision three years ago to expand into Asia and the Middle East', Pere Esquerra, managing director told Leather International. 'We are now looking to increase our exports by 40% of total production this year.' Quimser have major export markets in China, Thailand, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The speciality chemicals are manufactured at the company's plant located in the Spanish tanning town of Igualada. The headquarters house the production plant and a warehouse and they own a further two warehouses around Igualada. In total they have a 4,500 sq m site. The production plant also includes the company offices and three laboratories. 'If we continue to grow, I think that we will need to look at relocating the company to a larger site locally', said Pere. The current company president, Salvador Esquerra snr, founded Quimser in 1962. Today, the company have 25 employees and they manufacture 100-150 leather chemical products covering the whole leather making process. This also includes a small range of products for the footwear industry. Quimser supply beamhouse to finishing chemicals and a number of their products are tailor-made directly for customers. They currently process around 3,000 tons of leather chemicals a year. Last year, output rose by 18%. They are now looking at new markets in Morocco and north Africa as well as the Middle East. Innovations for Quimser The company have recently launched three new leather chemical products for the wet-end: Sertan ARC is a co-polymer for tanning and retanning wet-white and wet-blue. The anionic colourless liquid has excellent stability and a neutral pH around 6.5. It has been developed for use like a pretanning agent. It must be dissolved 1:3 before addition and improves the fixation of tanning agents such as chrome, vegetable, aluminium and syntans etc. Sertan ARC is used in retanning to give full and soft leathers with a smooth and firm grain. Sertan STM is a water-soluble filling agent for vegetable and chrome-tanned leathers. The colourless resin contains an active matter of 27% and has a pH of 9.0. This product is stable to neutral salts, weak acids and syntans. Sertan STM has a filling effect and is suitable for compacting fibres and refilling empty parts of the leather. This product can be used on both bovine and small skins for garment leathers. Its excellent lightfastness makes it very suitable for light colours. Sertan ML is a retanning resin with a filling effect. This cationic, colourless liquid is based on melamine and is suitable for retanning white and pastel shade leathers due to its good heat and lightfastness. Sertan ML may be mixed with other synthetic retanning agents in order to improve fullness. Added to a bath at pH4-4.5, Sertan ML provides a slow and selective fixation of emptier parts of the hide or skin. This product has a good filling effect without causing hardening.