Leather Skin

The leather industry is an ancient industry, and at the beginning it used vegetable tanning materials and developed over the centuries with human requirements and progress, and then access to modern methods, and in Sudan production of leather is an ancient craft despite the huge potentials that Sudan abounds in the field of leather industry to provide all the required ingredients For the leather industry, Sudan has huge animal wealth estimated at more than 140 million head and wild animal wealth. Its most important products are reptile skins. Besides tens of tanneries with large capacities in productivity, it consumes significant quantities of meat that increase with the increase in the population. Leather is the most important side product for producing Meat.

  Leather trade and industry occupies an important economic position, as leather is the most important by-product of meat production, and its exports constitute the first in the industrial export and the second in livestock exports after the export of live animals and meat.

Definition of leather

Leather is a durable and flexible material made from animal hides. Cattle are the main source of hides, while deer, goats, and sheep hides are another important source of hides. Some of the distinctive tanned hides are made from crocodile leather, sharks, snakes, and wild yuan such as a tiger.

History of the leather industry in Sudan

Leather products have been known in Sudan since ancient times. Excavations and carvings have appeared in archaeological sites in Al-Musawarat and Al-Bahrawa, north of Khartoum. Leather slippers were known 5,000 years ago in the Kingdom of Meroe. Leather tanning and leather products have often become part of Sudanese civilization and leather has been used in many lifestyles.

 The modern sector began in 1945 AD to construct a mechanized tannery with a shoe factory, and then established the three large government tanneries during the sixties and seventies are (the White Nile tanner – the Khartoum tanner – the island tanner) and followed by a number of small tanneries established by the private sector. The tanneries to date have reached 24 tanneries alongside a handcraft sector (Rural) wide in many cities of West Sudan, Sennar – Madani – Kosti – Al Qadarif – Kassala and Omdurman, about 30 municipal tanning complexes, and a wide crafts sector linked to the manufacture of popular shoe (compound) and other products.

The development of the leather industry

 The leather sector is considered one of the most promising sectors in Sudan because of its huge animal wealth and a percentage of increasing the demand for Sudanese meat, resulting in the availability of an estimated number of skins. The project of developing the leather industry and its products in Sudan started by the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) in 1967 AD until the year 1990 AD and had a clear role in improving the quality of the raw leather produced and the establishment of many slaughterhouses throughout Sudan and training leather and skeleton technicians and the development of leather trade and exports working according to specifications And global standards.

In addition to the presence of a number of training institutions and applied research in the field of leather and leather products (the National Center for Leather Improvement in Omdurman, the National Center for Leather Technology in Khartoum, the technological incubator for developing the leather and leather products industry in Khartoum North, as the state’s policies aim to give priority to the industrial sector within the framework of the national program Considering that the industry is the main driver for the various development sectors in order to achieve high added value for national products and provide job opportunities and transfer of modern technologies in the field of leather and leather products to meet the challenges of globalization and increase the competitiveness of leather products in global markets while encouraging investment

The five-year plan to save the leather industry 2013 – 2017

The plan aims to raise the return of the exporter by 150 million dollars and replace the import by 60 million dollars within five years, by entering into the advanced stages of manufacturing when entering the qualified units in the deeper products market and establishing an industrial zone dedicated to the leather industry.

Leather products industry

 The most important of which are the shoe industry, in addition to the manufacture of leather products, such as bags of various kinds, wallets, leather clothing, folklore products, and ornamental leather. And their production is restricted to the workshops and the artisan sector,

Leather Exports

The export of processed leather (soft and munched tanned) constitutes, on average, about 50% of the export of cattle hides and more than 95% of the export of small hides such as sheep and goats.

The most important components of leather production in Sudan

The presence of huge animal wealth and an increasing need to consume meat (internally and externally). Sudanese leather is characterized by the strength of its texture and its large area