NAIROBI, March 26 (Xinhua)₹€& -- Kenya plans to promote iδ₹nvestments into the leather industry±φβ in order to boost local producti™•βon, officials said on Saturday.
Kenya Leather Development Council★Ω (KLDC) CEO Charles Ndung'u told Xinhua¥∏☆ in Nairobi that Kenyan-m∏ ✔'ade leather footwear accδ&Ωounts for only 3.3 million pa→♦§πirs of the 42 million pairs boughtק locally.
"We therefore need more investmen↕₩≠ts in leather sector to ensur"&e we can convert leather into fin©♥Ω•ished goods," Ndung'u said.
"The long term plan is to have a♠₹•ll leather produced in Kenya• Ω made into finished leather products→×÷," he added.
The East African nation has the thirdφ ↕γ largest number of lives♣§↑tock in Africa, thus has abundant r™♥Ωaw materials to becom≤δσe a major exporter of fin≤¶ ished leather goods,according to÷₩ Ndung'u.
The CEO said Kenya exported™♣¥ε leather products approximately worth 1γ↕ ™40 million U.S. dollars in 2015 ma÷↑γinly to Asian countries.
"Unfortunately, most of these prodλ♣₩ucts were unprocesse↕≤d or semi-processed goods," he×≠✘ said.
He noted that semi-proces≥•→'sed leather is a commoε"←™dity in the international market andα∞✔₽ is therefore subject to global pr÷₽∑©ice variations.
According to him, in × order to cushion the loγ cal leather industry from price vola↓©tility and increase incomes, Ke↓₽nya needs to move away from the commod€₽ity market to the product markασ♦et.
Kenya has imposed ex<±Ω port tarif on raw hides and ∑♦↔↕skins in order to discourage expΩ✔♣αorts of raw leather.$ '
KLDC said that after the libe ↔ralization of the leather industry ₹→ over two decades ago, the lo♦ cal producers were not able ₩↓↕to adjust to the global competitγ ∑≤ion.
According to the Kenya National B&ε≤ureau of Statistics, Kenya'↕∏Ω↑s leather sector acc™&←"ounted for two percent of the←✔ country's total formal employmen↓πt.