Current Situation of

Japanese Leather Industry

and the Activities of JALT
Japanese Association of
Leather Technology
Keiji Yoshimura

Statistics of leather and leather

goods industries
2008
Factories

Employees

Shipment
(billion yen)

Leather and
leather goods

5,477

36,094

496

tanner

451

3,488

65

Japanese total shipment of

manufacturing industries
leather related industries

:338 trillion yen

only 0.1%

Production of hide or skin

2009
bovine hide
1,188 thousand pieces

pig skin
15,997 thousand pieces

consumption of bovine hides

Production of leather

Tanning area in Japan

Hyogo
bovine, horse
250 companies

Nagano
bovine
2 companies

Nara
deer, fur

Wakayama
bovine, split
10 companies

Yamagata
bovine
1 company

Kanto area (Tokyo, Saitama)

pigskin, sheep, goat, reptile
100 companies

Production of leather footwear

Total production of leather

and leather goods

Import of footwear
Quantity base (million pares)
Women , 7.2
Other leather
footwear 7.7

Amount base (billion yen)

Men , 23
Women , 31
Sports , 27
Other leather
footwear, 35

Other non-leather
footwear, 564

Total:596 million pares

Leather footwear: 32 million pares(4.4%)

Other non-leather
footwear, 310

Total: 426 billion yen

Leather footwear:116 billion yen(27.3%)

Import of mens shoes

Supplying countries

Average price
County

Romania
etc

Vietnam

China
Bangladesh
Italy
Cambodia

Myanmar

yen

UK

23,627

France

17,242

Italy

14,029

Spain

9,289

India

4,723

Vietnam

3,986

China

2,761

Myanmar

2,289

Cambodia

2,008

Bangladesh

1,827

Import of womens shoes

Supplying countries

Average price
County

Brazil
Spain

etc

Myanmar

China

Bangladesh

Italy

Cambodia

yen

UK

15,447

Italy

14,630

Switzerland

13,584

France

8,448

Germany

8,230

Spain

6,095

India

3,794

China

2,794

Cambodia

2,152

Myanmar

1,657

Bangladesh

1,471

Image of Japanese market

Japanese market
Create products and services
with high added value

Low price products

Premium brand products

The domestic leather industry is working

to incorporate added value into its product.
Considering recent ecological trends,
the industry is making a genuine effort to
produce eco leather that is both environmentally
and human friendly.

JAPAN ECO LEATHER

Thank you

Japanese Association of
Leather Technology (JALT)
Founded in 1955 (55th anniversary)
For further development of leather
science and technology
Member
l
l
l

life member
regular member
corporate member

4
154
65

Activities
Annual meeting (3 Dec. 2010)
Meeting for the presentation of
research
(3 Dec. 2010)
Publishing;
l
l

l
l

Periodical; Hikaku Kagaku (4/year)

Japanese-English-Chinese Leather
Dictionary
Leather handbook
Leather Dictionary (Now editing)

Activities
Human resource development
l

Lecture in various regions

With demonstration of handling leather and
leather goods

Participation in IULTCS and AICLS

Responsible for JIS (Japanese
Industrial Standard)
Responsible for ISO (O-member)
PR of Japan Eco Leather

Joint research program

Practical application and
development of ecological leather
l
l

JALT staff
Leather related research institute
Tokyo, Osaka, Hyogo, etc.

Subsidies of Minister of Economy,

Trade and Industry (METI)

Location of Leather Research

Institutes
Technology Research
Institute of Osaka Prefecture
2+1 researcher
Hyogo Prefectural Institute
of Technology
6+1 researcher

Tokyo Metropolitan Leather

Technology Center
9 researcher
Industrial Technology Center
of Nara Prefecture

Industrial Technology Center of

Wakayama Prefecture

Location of University related

to leather
Hokkaido University
Collagen, keratin, etc
Fur, leather

Tokyo University of
Agriculture and Technology
Collagen, keratin, etc
leather
Showa Womens University
Characteristic of leather
Comfort of leather wear or shoes

We support !!
Japanese leather related industry

Thank you

Main service
1) Testing Service
2) Facilities Service
3) Technical Support Service
4) Research