Opening ceremony of the 4th International Leather & Fur Expo (Photo taken by Liu Xiang)

The 4th International Leather & Fur Exposition got off to a start, in Shijiazhuang, the capital of Hebei province, on Nov 18, 2012, as a large professional gathering where leather and fur producers and sellers can deal, trade, compare, communicate, and cooperate.

The exhibition is sponsored by the China Chamber of Commerce for Foodstuff and Native Produce, with Ministry of Commerce approval and a theme of “Showing the image, bringing quality goods, guiding trends, and promoting a winning situation”. It is also expected to help industries with transformation and upgrades, improve the domestic leather and fur industry, give some luster to the province’s exhibition image, and improve the industry’s competitiveness.

Shijiazhuang, alone, has 2,645 companies engaged in the leather and fur business and providing work for nearly 130,000 people. It produces 140 million pieces of leather each year, with an output value of 59.2 billion yuan ($9.5 billion), and sales of 33 billion yuan, according to Jiang Deguo, the mayor, who spoke at the opening ceremony.

According to the Ministry of Commerce, the leather and fur industry is a traditional and important one for Hebei, with production and sales accounting for half of the entire country’s output.

By Liu Xiang