Global Leather Market to Stand at $43B

Global leather market volume fluctuated mildly, overall indicating slightly upward trend over the last five years. According to market research conducted by IndexBox, in 2015, the global leather market volume increased by 2% to 4.8 million tonnes.

Leather is one whe most widely used raw materials for a wide range of consumer goods – footwear, clothes, sacks and bags, accessories, automotive industry etc. Despite a slowdown in global economy growth, the demand for leather from downstream industries, however, is expected to remain positive, supported by broad product use and rising disposable incomes, particularly, in China and other Asian countries. On the other hand, the market growth pace should be restrained by the supply side, as cattle and other animals livestock, at the global scale, is to expand only at a very moderate pace. Therefore, the performance of the market is forecast to continue its current trend pattern, expanding at an anticipated CAGR of +0.8% for the nine-year period from 2015 to 2025. This period is expected to drive the market volume to 5.2 million tonnes by the end of 2025.

China (1.7 million tonnes) remains the key leather consuming country, with the U.S. (416 thousand tonnes), Italy (345 thousand tonnes), Brazil (323 thousand tonnes), India (274 thousand tonnes), Russia (232 thousand tonnes), and South Korea (180 thousand tonnes) lagging far behind. All these countries with the highest consumption together accounted for almost 72% of global leather consumprion. In terms of the key consumer countries in 2015, Italy (5.8 kg/year) and South Korea (3.6 kg/year) registered a per capita consumption figure higher than the global average of 0.7 kg per year.

Presently, global trade of leather accounts for a 48% share of total production in 2015, and it will continue to be a highly traded commodity. The main driver of the international trade is the growth in consumption by the leather industry in Southeast Asia. China (42%) was the main consumer of leather imports in the world. It was followed by Italy, with a 18% share of global imports. Italy and China showed negative dynamics of imports throughout the analyzed period: -2.5% and -1.9%, respectively. Therefore, China (-2 percentage points) and Italy (-2 percentage points) saw their shares reduced from 2007 to 2015.

In value terms, global exports of leather seesawed throughout the analyzed period, amounting to 20.5 billion USD in 2015. In volume terms, global exports of leather stood at 2.3 million tonnes in 2015, which was 10% less than the year before. Brazil (20%), Italy (14%), the U.S. (10%) and China (6%) were the main global suppliers, with a share of 50% of global leather exports. From 2007 to 2015, the shares of Brazil (+5 percentage points) and China (+2 percentage points) increased significantly, while the shares of Italy (-4 percentage points) and China (-2 percentage points) illustrated negative dynamics.

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