Introduction
Although the pandemic due to covid-19 is fundamentally a health crisis but has left an all-inclusive effect on every aspect of human life. No wonder international trade is also affected due to this crisis. It has been recorded that global merchandise trade has witnessed a near about 14.3 percent downfall in comparison to the previous year. This downfall can be considered as the direct effect of lockdowns. On the other hand, this pandemic has also left an overall bad effect on international supply chains and eventually on the employment and the income of the employees. All these reasons are there behind the collapse of international trade. So here in this discussion, we will talk about how the post COVID situation has impacted international trade and leather trade as well.
A Short Review on the Background of International Leather Trade
After the 1990s, the globe, headed by China, accelerated globalization and lifted hundreds of millions of people out of poverty. Things had been improving since the 1950s, but the development of the digital economy appears to have resulted in a massive acceleration in communications. The leather business had a hand in it. A single piece of leather can provide a huge number of employees in the concerned industry, such as in the production of footwear, clothes, purses, wallets, gloves, and other accessories. These draw primarily unskilled individuals into the labor, give them skills, provide stable salaries, and supply governments with definable tax money.
The Leather Business Is Undermining Its Image: The Direct Impact of Post COVID Situation
Leather is a multifaceted material that supports millions of people’s livelihoods, and it must be adequately addressed for the planet’s biodiversity and climate demands in the future. Any damage to its reputation puts this in jeopardy, and we can’t dismiss it or pretend it’s unrelated to us. During the financial crisis, we began to notice that globalization was leaving some communities behind, such as those in the developed world who were left jobless as their outdated industries closed. If there’s one thing we’ve learned in the last decade, it’s that all such groups of the overlooked and left behind must be assisted, or issues will emerge in this pandemic situation as well. It is not anymore in the top three manufacturing industries in the world, where it had been for centuries, but it is still significant. Many of the countries in need of poverty reduction have large quantities of high-quality raw materials. Although the pandemic situation due to COVID-19 has directly and massively impacted each side of the concerned industry there is still a chance to survive. Let’s talk about the prospective aspects of the concerned trading in the upcoming portion of the discussion.
The Potentiality of the Leather Trade in Upcoming Period
Surprisingly, the leather business may provide job prospects at various levels in both the developing and developed worlds. For example, workers in under-developed countries need the chance to labor and create value for their own raw materials. And, as corporations in the luxury and automobile sectors have demonstrated, there is valuable employment for leather makers and craftspeople in the developed world’s leather networks as well. However, such maneuvers must be executed correctly. Business-friendly policies and strategic measures are required in the emerging international leather trade market after COVID. To achieve global economic development, the governments must set clear and attainable goals that may be achieved via systematic planning and implementation in such a potential sector as leather goods production.
Conclusion
Generally, tanneries or large corporations are involved in the production of apparel by leather material. Raw material shortages, excessive labor costs, poor product innovation, and a lack of presence in the global fashion market are just the reasons behind the downfall of the concerned industry. But to become prominent in international trading leather sector has to keep a lot of promise in terms of exports, growth, and employment. It directly or indirectly employs around 2.5 million people. Nearly half of the workforce is skilled or semi-skilled, with women accounting for 30% of the total employment. Hopefully, this perspective sector will conquer all the odds and establish its place on top of the global marketing aspects again.
