The Ministry of Industry and Trade will ban the export of leather

The Ministry of Industry and Trade is preparing a decree banning the export of raw cattle leathers from 1 September 2013 year to 1 March 2014. The need for this measure is explained by the fact that Russian shoe-makers lack raw materials, which work with domestic leather at almost 100%.

The annual demand of Russia is 200 thousand tons of cattle leathers, the ministry noted. But in the country only 130 thousand tons are procured, of which 30% is now exported abroad.

As explained by Alexandra Andrunakievich, Director General of the Russian Union of Tanners and Shoemakers, the ban will only apply during the slaughter of livestock - this is a global practice designed to stop the export of the highest quality raw materials from the country. So protect their domestic markets India, China, Argentina, New Zealand.

Alexandra Andrunakievich also noted that such decisions will be adopted in subsequent years, until the industry straightens out.

According to Yuri Litvinov, General Director of CJSC Russian Kozha, if it is possible to stop the export of raw materials from the country, the prices for leather will go down. “Prices for raw materials are dictated not by domestic producers, but by Italians, who export 95% of the leather. In 2009, raw materials cost about 30 rubles, and now they are 70 rubles per kilogram, ”Litvinov said in an interview with the Izvestia newspaper.

“According to our estimates, the capacity of the Russian footwear market is about 400 million pairs a year, while domestic manufacturers produce only 50 million pairs. Our shoemakers are deliberately driven out of the market, driving up the price of raw materials, ”he said.

According to Andrunakievich, raw materials are exported abroad, because foreigners have cheaper loans, and they can make an advance payment for large batches at an early stage.

But by a resolution alone, the problem of raw materials for Russian shoe-makers cannot be solved. As Andrunakievich explained, a significant part of the leather from Russia is exported not as raw materials, but as a semi-finished product. Leather that has already been pretreated, unlike raw materials, is not included in the list of goods sensitive to the economy, in accordance with the agreements of the Customs Union.

“Therefore, we can independently prohibit the export of leathers, and there must be a consolidated decision to ban the export of semi-finished products,” Andrunakievich notes. - We have now entered the Euro-Asian Economic Commission (EEC) with a proposal to introduce this item into the list of sensitive goods. Belarus supports us, and Kazakhstan resists - through this country Russian raw materials go to China. "