An investigation on production, import and export of vegetable tanning material used in Turkish leather industry

The vegetable tannin material is among the indispensable raw materials that are applied for manufacture of ready-made apparel from raw hide. Acorn, oak gall, sumac leaves and some tree barks, which are tanning materials native to Turkey, are still considered to be important raw materials in the domestic and foreign leather industry.This study aims to investigate the situation, the production and foreign trade of the domestic tannin materials. The demand projections are made by 2020 with production and foreign trade data of 1990-2008 obtained from Turkish Statistical Institute, State Planning Organization, and The Undersecretariat of the Prime Ministry for Foreign Trade. Tanning material sector is investigated together with leather industry and forestry policy, and its situation is analyzed by SWOT analysis.Key Words: Tanning material, leather industry, foreign trade, demand projection, SWOT analysis.