New government plan for leather industry in Argentina

Argentina's industry minister, D bora Giorgi, has said that advances the government hopes to encourage in the leather and footwear production sector will allow the country to make 200 million pairs of leather shoes a year by 2020, export 50 million pairs and create 12,000 new jobs.

She announced the objectives at the launch of a new strategic plan for the industry, which she presented to business leaders in Buenos Aires on March 29.

Ms Giorgi said: "Argentina needs to change its business model for this sector. At the moment 99% of leather footwear production is aimed at the internal market and we want to bring that figure down to a 60% share. We want 15% of the shoes Argentinean manufacturers produce to be in the luxury niche and 25% to be aimed at other countries in our region and emerging markets around the world."

The minister said encouraging companies to become more integrated, producing leather and finished goods, was part of the initiative. Discussions across the industry will continue until August 31 2011, with companies across the supply chain discussing ways of setting up strategic alliances to promote growth throughout the leather and footwear sector.