Inside Meatco's tannery

The leather industry in Namibia contributes hundreds of millions to the country's economy and a major role player in the industry is Meatco's Okapuka Tannery. The leather industry exists as a by-product of the meat industry, with products including wet blue tanned hides, shoes and other exotic products. According to Meatco, major players in the local market are Nakara, Okapuka and Brukarros along with traders like ANPRO and LIBRA, contributing between N$500 million and N$600 million to the national economy. Meatco's Okapuka Tannery employs 38 people, but the sophisticated automated methods used require minimal human intervention to process fresh and salted hides to the wet blue stage. Wet blue is the first stage of leather processing and this is exported to Europe for manufacture in countries like Italy.Okapuka supplies 90% of its wet blue hides to the European Union while the remaining 10% goes to the local market. Hides are sourced throughout Namibia from Meatco and other abattoirs, as well as from South Africa and Mauritius. Once they have been processed, these are destined for Nakara locally and to Italy and China internationally. According to Meatco maximising market opportunities remains a major consideration. Due to the market volatilities including exchange rates influencing the industry, it was decided that no lower-grade hides will be purchased in future but only high-grade hides to supplement a shortfall. Also, no sheep and goat hides will be bought. According to Meatco, it was also decided that both international and local economic conditions will be taken into consideration when attempting to reduce the corporation's vulnerability to fluctuations in those markets. “A strategic decision was taken to 'right size' production in the tannery to increase returns.”Most exported hides feed the fashion industry which is inherently sensitive to currency fluctuations on international markets, and due to uncertainty of the water supply in Windhoek, it is prudent to adjust production accordingly. A full spectrum of computer controls is used to achieve environmentally favourable processing and consistent quality. According to Meatco cattle hides are exported in wet blue or processed on order in dyed crust upholstery leather suitable for the furniture and automotive industries. Thorn bushes and branding can cause defects. Therefore, hides of Namibian origin are classified as corrected or heavily corrected grain-type leather. Splits are finished with the Helcor process for automotive and shoe upper leather of a high quality. Bovine hides are the most important raw material used in the leather industry globally. The current contribution of wet blue to the Namibian GDP is larger than that of locally produced value-added products, making it worth considering as a standalone product, says Meatco. STAFF REPORTER

Inside Meatco's tannery

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Namibian Sun 2025-10-08

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Inside Meatco's tannery

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Namibian Sun 2025-10-08

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