Global and China Microfiber Leather Industry Report, 2011-2012

As an upgrading product of traditional artificial leather and an alternative to genuine leather, microfiber leather has been in tight supply. From 2004 to 2010, the global output of microfiber leather maintained a CAGR of 8.7%. In 2010, the figure grew 7.6% YoY to 118 million square meters. Along with the new capacity release of major manufacturers, the world’s output of microfiber feather is expected to reach 141 million square meters in 2012. Although the growth rate of microfiber leather output is greater than that of the demand, the product is still in short supply because of the large supply-demand gap at present, and the balance between supply and demand is estimated to be achieved around 2013.

Chinese microfiber leather industry characterizes the followings:

The industry features a high degree of concentration. Presently, three listed companies including Zhejiang Hexin Industry Group, Wuxi Double Elephant Micro Fiber Material and Huafon Microfibre (Shanghai), as well as to-be-listed Shandong Tongda Island New Materials occupy more than 50% of the market, among which, Huafon Microfibre accounted for around 22.1% market share in 2010.

Shoe and furniture microfiber leather prevail and automotive interior microfiber leather becomes new bright spot. The demand for microfiber leather mainly comes from downstream sectors such as shoes, furniture, car and bag & luggage. Microfiber leather for shoes and furniture makes up approximately 70.2% of the downstream demand, and that for clothing and cars each accounts for around 6.1%. Microfiber leather for automotive interiors is expected to become new growth engine of demand from downstream industries.

China outpaces Japan to rank first in production. In 2010, the output of microfiber leather in China got to 48.6 million square meters, accounting for 41.36% of the global total, and China thus excelled Japan for the first time to become the world’s largest producer. As Chinese manufacturing enterprises enhance their technology development strength, microfiber leather production keeps being transferred to China.

The balance between supply and demand will be realized in 2013. Currently, Chinese microfiber leather industry is in short supply. In 2010, the consumption of microfiber leather in China reached 92 million square meters, while the output barely attained 48.6 million square meters in the same period, so China is currently a net importer of microfiber leather. Coveted by the high profitability of microfiber leather products, many enterprises are expanding their production capacities. It is estimated that the tight supply of microfiber leather will be replaced by supply-demand balance or even oversupply after 2013.

It is in the report that covers the followings:

The current status, market size, competition pattern and supply & demand of microfiber leather in China and in the world;

Import & export, entry barriers, development prospects and trends of Chinese microfiber leather industry;

The upstream and downstream sectors of Chinese microfiber leather industry, focusing on the current status of and demand from the downstream industries including shoes, furniture, clothing, automotive interiors, bag & luggage and sporting goods;

Operation, project planning and forecasts of the world’s 5 leading microfiber leather manufacturers and China’s 10 major microfiber leather enterprises.

Japanese companies represented by Toray and Kuraray are the leading manufacturers equipped with the most advanced technologies and boasting of the largest output and the most complete product portfolio in the industry. Chinese microfiber leather enterprises still lag behind Japanese producers in technical level, but enjoy high growth speed. Additionally, it is noteworthy that the gross margin of ordinary synthetic leather approximates 10%-25%, while that of microfiber leather products averages around 30%, with 5-20 percentage points higher than the former, which also explains microfiber leather manufacturers’ increasing efforts in capacity release.

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