In the first quarter of 2013, China's export of leather products increased year-on-year, but the sales revenue of the whole industry fell significantly. The cost rise faced by the leather industry and the pressure of environmental protection still exist. The discharge standard of water pollutants for leather and fur processing industry is expected to be officially released this year. The increasingly stringent national environmental protection requirements and standards mean that enterprises need to constantly adjust their product structure, Adopt new technologies to meet higher and higher requirements and standards, so as to maintain the competitiveness of foreign trade.

Nie Yumei, Executive Deputy Secretary General of China Leather Association, said in Guangzhou recently that in the first quarter of this year, the operation of China's leather, fur and its products industry generally showed a year-on-year slowdown. Among them, the growth rate of sales revenue and profit decreased significantly.

In the first quarter of this year, the sales revenue of China's leather, fur, products and footwear industry above Designated Size (enterprises with an annual sales revenue of more than 20 million yuan) was 242.58 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 12.9%, and the growth rate decreased by 4.3 percentage points over the same period of last year; The total profit was USD 13.89 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9.3%, and the growth rate decreased by 15.6 percentage points year-on-year.

In addition, China's exports of leather, fur, products and footwear reached US $17.9 billion, a year-on-year increase of 31.1%, a year-on-year increase of 1.2% and a growth rate of 29.9 percentage points over the same period last year; Imports reached US $1.79 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.5% (a year-on-year increase of 15%), and the growth rate decreased by 13.6 percentage points over the same period of last year.

At present, although the external demand of China's leather industry has rebounded, the growth rate of sales revenue and profit of the whole industry has dropped significantly. With the rising cost of production and the pressure of environmental protection, enterprises are facing the pressure of transformation and upgrading and expanding domestic sales.

Recently, Chen Zhanguang, Deputy Secretary General of China Leather Association, revealed that the national environmental protection standard "discharge standard of water pollutants for tanning and fur processing industry" after the second consultation is expected to be officially released this year. According to this standard, the Ministry of environmental protection will implement stricter discharge standards for the processing links of the leather industry. The first draft of access conditions for leather industry drafted by China Leather Association entrusted by the Ministry of industry and information technology has been basically completed and is expected to be issued at the end of this year or early next year. In the future, the increasingly tightening environmental protection policy of the domestic leather industry has become inevitable. The new water pollution discharge standard for the leather processing industry will be implemented next year, and there is a more stringent version for new enterprises, aiming to reduce the content of harmful substances such as chromium, ammonia nitrogen and chloride ions in direct and indirect emissions during processing.

At the same time, the state is also strengthening the standardized management of the production and processing of the leather industry. Taking the fur industry as an example, the Ministry of industry and information technology of the people's Republic of China is going to entrust the fur Professional Committee of China Leather Association to formulate the entry conditions for the fur industry. The preliminary investigation work of the fur Professional Committee has been carried out, which will help support the advantages and limit the disadvantages, adjust the industrial structure Normative development plays an important role.

The increasingly stringent national environmental protection requirements and standards mean that enterprises need to constantly adjust product structure and adopt new technologies to meet higher and higher requirements and standards. Therefore, if the new regulations are implemented, tens of millions of practitioners (mostly farmers) in the leather industry will face the pressure of rising costs. Whether the industry can absorb the new costs and maintain the competitiveness of foreign trade has become the focus of attention.