Ethiopia’s footwear industry and its leather sector in general enjoy significant international comparative advantages owing to its abundant and available raw materials, highly disciplined workforce and cheap prices. Ethiopia boasts the largest livestock production in Africa, and the 10th largest in the world. Ethiopia annually produces 2.7 million hides, 8.1 million sheepskins and 7.5 million goatskins. This comparative advantage is further underlined by the fact that the costs of raw hides and skins constitute on average 55-60% of the production of semiprocessed leather.
Ethiopia's leather and leather product sector produce a range of products from semi-processed leather in various forms to processed leathers including shoe uppers, leather garments, stitched upholstery, backpacks, purses, industrial gloves and finished leather. Ethiopian leather products have been exported to markets in Europe (especially Italy and the UK), America, Canada, China, Japan and other Far Eastern countries
and the Middle East. Leather is also exported to other African countries including Nigeria and Uganda.
Leather garments
Ethiopian footwear factories produce men’s casual shoes and children’s shoe-uppers made from pure leather. Additionally, the factories:
The Ethiopian footwear industry produces shoes that are globally competitive in terms of both quality and price. Due focus is given to maintaining the quality of the hides and skins, leather and leather products for export. All exports are tested by the Quality and Standards Authority of
Ethiopia (QSAE).
Stable Economic Environment:
2. Liberalized Economy:
3. Security of Investment:
4. Significant Tax Incentives:
5. Conducive Tax Environment:
Trainable Labor:
Land:
Land is available on a leasehold basis of up to 99 years. In response to the country’s drive to attract foreign investment, regional governments are now expected to allocate land to investors within 60 days of receiving their applications. The lease of urban and rural land varies according to location, type of investment and class of land. In the capital city of Addis Ababa, prices range from approximately $1.50-$13.25 per square foot in the Central Business Zone. The Government generally is willing to negotiate with individual
business to provide incentives to get the capital investment required.
Security:
Ethiopia is politically stable and its popular tourist destinations are safe and secure.
In recent years, the global market has become increasingly accessible to countries such as Ethiopia. New export opportunities were created through initiatives such as AGOA (the African Growth and Opportunity Act), COMESA (the Common Market of Eastern and Southern Africa) and the many bilateral trade agreements concluded with Western countries, including the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Ethiopia is also part of the “Everything But Arms” program that has been set up to provide access to the E.U. market for Lesser Developed Beneficiary Countries, free of duty and without quota restrictions, for all export products except arms.
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