Business news

Belarus mulls over setting up leather holding company

Tatiana Lugina

MINSK, 22 April (BelTA) – We are proposing to set up a leather holding company in Belarus, Tatiana Lugina, the chairperson of the Belarusian state light industry concern Bellegprom, said at a session of the Presidium of the Council of Ministers to discuss the state of things in the leather industry on 22 April, BelTA has learned. 

“We will offer the government to set up a new structure: a Belarusian leather holding company. Today we have three old players: the tanneries in Minsk, Bobruisk and Grodno. Last year, we welcomed a new player - a tannery in Mogilev. It has proved itself a fairly stable manufacturer and market player. We will offer them to join the holding company. But it is a private business. They will make their own decision,” Tatiana Lugina said.

The Mogilev-based manufacturer of gelatin Mozhelit will be offered to join the holding company, if this project gets a go-ahead.

According to the head of the concern, the project to set up the holding company is based on the experience of other countries: Italy, Poland, Uzbekistan, and Russia. “We understand that today this industry should really have a serious impact. Having analyzed thoroughly all pros and cons, the current approaches and the approaches we would like to apply, we have made this offer,” Tatiana Lugina said.

According to her, in the first quarter of this year the situation in the leather industry improved a bit. The stocks of hides at warehouses of meat packing plants reduced by almost 20%.

A lot of work is ahead to increase the demand for domestic raw materials. The country's two largest footwear manufacturers, Belwest and Marco, are still importing a large volume of leather. “Small business, our haberdashers and shoemakers report a 60-70% share of domestic leather materials. Meanwhile these two holding companies have a large import component. Our new approaches stem from this analysis. In order to motivate the footwear manufacturers to use leather made by our tanneries, its price and quality should meet their expectations and requirements,” Tatiana Lugina noted.

“We need to turn the leather industry into an efficient business. All over the world, this industry is quite profitable,” Tatiana Lugina summed up.

print version

make home page

add to bookmarks