Northern Chinese Government enforces new policy, tanneries closed until they become compliant.

Since the new industry wastewater guidelines came to force on 1st March 2014, the northern Chinese government states of Hebei and Xinji have stopped production in a number of tanneries whose effluence exceed that of the guidelines. They will not be allowed to resume work until water treatment plants have been installed. The plants have had their electricity and water suspended to prevent operation from continuing. This has caused a drop in the production in northern china and unless these tanneries can finance their improvements many will surely close down.

Litehide™ could be the solution for some of these tanneries as much of the polluting causes will be from the beamhouse wet work. By using Litehide™, a tannery could eliminate all their beamhouse work and focus on the tanning and production of finished leather therefore not requiring to build treatment works for beamhouse wastes.

Below is the original article from Hidenet.com

Some Chinese tanners forced to close due to new pollution regulations

Sources in China reported this week that the Chinese government is enforcing strict environmental improvement policy to the North tanning area. In recent years, tanners have seen their business grow and as a result so have their effluents.

Tanners in what has become a major tanning center, have been forced to completely stop production in and around area’s such as Xinji, Hebei, etc. The government has told tanners that they must build their own sewage treatment plants otherwise they are not permitted back to operate. This has, for example, caused a sharp reduction in the Wuji area.. Obviously, even if financing is available for such construction, and with their high cost of hides, this will be impossibility for many, and they will have to close their wet end process

In the past few days, tanners in the Xinji area have had to totally stop production as the media has publicized the situation. Now power has been cut off as well as water supply.

To exacerbate the problem, the production decline has negatively impacted tanner’s cash flow. Even when credit is still available to some tanners, money is tighter than in the past. Thus, a slowdown in letter of credit openings for previous purchases, as well as cancellations.

For those northern tanners doing a good volume of domestic Chinese business , theYuan/Dollar exchange rate is another issue that inhibits their ability to buy hides. Due to the above reasons, tanners are very quiet at present and not in any condition to buy hides or sell leather. To make matters even worse, some brands who rely on a flow of leather from these tanners, have had to switch their business elsewhere in order to be assured of the flow of leather needed to meet their obligations.

In general, tanners in Southern China have not been adversely affected as they have gone through much of this same situation in recent years, and in fact, are able to pick up some of the business lost by their northern colleagues.