Tips On Hides And Skin Business

A hide is an animal skin treated for human use. Hides include leather from cattle and other livestock animals, alligator skins, snake skinss for shoes and fashion accessories and furs from wild cats,mink and bears.

Production

Animal hides are stretched, dried and tanned. It is more cost-effective today to raise animals in captivity and then kill them. Large farms exist to raise mink and rabbit for fur while much fox, lynx, wolf and other animals are trapped for fur.

Use and Market

Fur and hides find their main use today as clothing, particularly coats. They are valued for their warmth, and as a status symbol. Rabbit fur is a popular material to make hats, coats and glove linings. Ermine fur was historically popular in ceremonial clothes of European monarchs. The black-tipped tails were arranged around the edges of robes, producing the familiar pattern of black diamonds on a white field. Because of this use, "ermine" became a term in heraldry, to mean a white field strewn with small bell-shaped designs called ermine-spots.Hides has also been used to build canoes and tents, as simple window panes, and as material for writing. For example, many medieval books were written on vellum parchment. Many drums, especially hand drums like the pandeiro have their skin made from hides. The fur trade led to the opening of the interior of the North American continent. In particular, the popularity of beaver hats in Europe in the 17th and 18th century led to displacement of native tribes, several inter-tribal wars and the eventual near-eradication of the beaver. In Nigeria, agriculture has remained the largest sector of the economy. It generates employment for about 70% of Nigeria’s population and contributes about 40% to the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with crops accounting for 80%, livestock 13%, forestry 3% and fishery 4%. Though contributing only 13% to the national GDP, livestock plays an important role by providing part of the nations protein needs and it is from it that hides and skin is gotten from.
Ranking only second to cocoa as Nigerians largest non-oil export in terms of volume, processed hides and skin sure do have a lot of international demand where they are used in the production of leather products like shoes, bags, watch straps, belts etc. Nigeria produces one of the best hides and skin in the world and in order to encourage the local processing of hides and skin, development of related industries and employment generation, government placed a ban on the export of raw hide and skin in Nigeria.This ban on the export of raw hides and skin as lead to establishment of local tannery constantly in need of raw hides and skins for process hence creating supply opportunity for interested investors. However to tap into this opportunity, the investor would need to understand in details the different types and sizes of hides and skin in the market.it is note worthy to know the ever increasing competition between humans and industry for raw hides and skin in Nigeria has further creates scarcity of the product.
The major market destinations for Nigeria's processed hides and shin is mainly in Europe and Asia with Italy , China ,Hong Kong leading the pack. Though in Nigeria, majority of the product processed hides and skin tends to come from cow and goat, other animal skin equally have great demand and they include crocodile, buffalo, Zebra etc. It is however, important to note that in order to guide against indiscriminate killing and pouching of wild animals, the convention on international trade of endangered species of wild fauna and flora {CITES}, signed a treaty that restricts the importation of animal skins in order to preserve such animals. The treaty also empowers CITES to grant exemption for trade in skins of animals reared in captivity.