Tanners hit by competition

Tanneries clustered in the Rouf-Tavros industrial district of central Athens are on their last legs. Most of the surviving 25 businesses expect to be evicted from their premises in the next year or so to make way for a 2004 Olympic sports centre. None so far has anywhere to go that is approved by the ministries of development and public works. For 30 years, the same old story has continued, says Janis Vasiliadis, who runs a tannery on Demaraki Street and is an executive member of the Greek Tanners' Association. 'It's been nothing but tha, tha, tha (Greek word indicating future tense)', he complains. Tanners have recently been strung along with hopes of a site near Aspropyrgos, but they bemoan the fact that no financial assistance is offered to develop the area. In their existing cramped quarter, expansion and modernisation to make their operations more environmentally friendly are ruled out. Vassiliadis claims even the biggest operators have despaired and ceased to invest in new machinery and facilities. One of the largest in Greece, Tripos, used to employ 240 hands and now has only 20. Germanakos, previously employing 120, now has four. Indicative of declining tanning capacity is the massively reduced number of raw hides remaining in Greece for processing. Of a total 11-12 million hides - 7.4 million sheep and lamb, 4.5 million goat and a few cattle - produced in Greece each year, fewer than two million remain for domestic tanners. The bulk of the hides, nine to ten million of them, are snapped up by Italian, Spanish and Turkish operators with the end product just as likely to be made up in countries such as Pakistan. Tanneries in these countries relocated from city centres years ago and do brisk trade in modernised conditions, producing premium quality leather for demanding, fashion-conscious clothing and leathergoods manufacturers. Confirming depressed conditions in the industry is the huge drop in shoe-making in Greece over the past 15 years, down from 45 million pairs of shoes to a mere five million last year. 'This is the sort of reason we have rising unemployment in Greece, while other EU countries create jobs', said Vassiliadis bitterly. Thessaloniki tanners had no happier tale to tell than Athenians. Upbeat last year about an imminent move from their old harbour-front location to the new industrial park west of the city, the 15 businesses have stayed put, say the Markos brothers, citing lack of government support for the major move. Compounding tanners' woes is the soaring price of leather due to shortages created by falling meat consumption and BSE and foot and mouth disease. Prices for quality lamb and kid skin leather have risen more than 50% over the past year and now stand at 11,000 drachmas a metre. Even leather shoes look set to become a luxury, say manufacturers, already hard hit by imports of leather clothing, bags and footwear from Third World Countries with low labour costs. At the annual exhibition Skinexpo, Athens, Antonios Kotoglidu who with five family members runs a tannery in Tavros, said: 'I don't know why I am here. Our output is small. We go through 60,000-75,000 hides a year, sheep and goat skins from the Peloponnese round Kalamata and Sparta and the mainland round Levadeia and Thebes, all for quality clothing leather. 'We can't increase production even if we get the orders, because of the restrictions where we are. It is a real shame as ours is an historic industry in Greece.'