News

         CHENNAI: Yet to come out of the global recession, the onword march of the rupee has come as a double whammy for leather exporters. with 10% of $3.59 billion exports headed for the US last year, the appreciation of the rupee will drain the already low margins of the industry.

        Germany, Italy, the UK, the US, Hong Kong, Spain, France, the Netherland, UAE and Australia account for nearly 75.3% of india’s total leather exports. And 70% of these contracts are dollar denominated.

       When the rupee appreciated to Simallar levels in to in 2007 the industry sufered a loss of about 40% in revenues, This  Time the hit will be much larger because the recession has already cost many orders, says another industry official.

      From a growth of 16% in 2007-08 in leather exports, the growth dipped to just 1.41% in 2008-09-the recession year. According to the council for Leather Exports, in 2009-2010, exports would register a negative of 8.3%.