Some sixty tanneries are currently working in Türkiye’s eastern province of Hatay, with a capacity of 500,000 tons of finished skins per year. Quality is excellent and Ibrahim Ethem Oner of Cerkez Deri stated that the zone is working close to capacity.
Leather International spoke with two leather producers from the area at the Istanbul Leather Fair.
The leather processing area is located in Antakya, near the Syrian border and specialises in bovine skins for footwear.
Türkiye’s eastern provinces are some 1,200km from better known leather centres, but the Hatay region benefits from proximity to the South East Anatolian (GAP) project, a mega agricultural resources scheme that harnesses the source waters of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. Türkiye’s other specialised bovine tannery zone is in Gerede, but progress is slower here.
