Kenya looks to grow leather export sector with 500ha industrial park
What you need to know:
Kenya plans to construct a 500 hectares leather industrial park hosting tanneries and value addition facilities at Kinanie in Machakos County.
The country’s leather sector generates Ksh10 billion ($100 million) annually and is projected to earn 10 times more by exporting more finished products than the current wet blue (semi-processed) leather.
The master plan proposes phased development of 36 tanneries on 1ha plots, complemented by eight leather value addition parks.
Kenya plans to construct a 500 hectares leather industrial park hosting tanneries and value addition facilities at Kinanie in Machakos County.
The Ministry of Industrialisation has given the Export Processing Zone Authority (EPZA) the go-ahead to build the park in Athi River, 35 kilometres from Nairobi and 17km off the Nairobi-Mombasa highway.
The country’s leather sector generates Ksh10 billion ($100 million) annually and is projected to earn 10 times more by exporting more finished products than the current wet blue (semi-processed) leather.
There are 14 active tanneries in the country with a capacity of processing 2.28 million hides and 18.6 million skins.
Industrialisation Cabinet Secretary Adan Mohamed said the leather industrial park at Kinanie is one way to address the trade deficit and raise exports by about $1 billion. The master plan proposes phased development of 36 tanneries on 1ha plots, complemented by eight leather value addition parks.
The initial phase will target 20 tanneries, each with a production capacity of about 10 tonnes of raw hides and skins daily, and an output of 10,000 pairs of shoes, hand bags, leather garments and industrial gloves.
Kenya, through the EPZA, will invest about Ksh7 billion ($70 million) in the leather industrial park, which will have a common tannery effluent pre-treatment plant, serviced plots, electricity and roads.
A tannery requires huge amounts of water, power and an effluent treatment plant. This hinders many firms from venturing in value addition, resulting into about 90 per cent of skins and hides being exported as raw or semi-processed.
Firms in Kenya have been struggling to find specialised effluent and solid waste pre-treatment facilities at a reasonable cost to treat tannery waste and maintain a clean environment.
Mr Mohamed said the facilities at Kinanie will enable investors in the sector to move from exporting wet blue leather to finished products.
While some tannery operators are ready to transfer their operations to Kinanie, to take advantage of the subsidised effluent treatment facilities, the majority favour remaining at their current bases.
