Mrs Netai Magade
THE Ministry of Industry and Commerce has called on players in the leather sector to actively contribute towards the development of a comprehensive State of the Industry Report that will inform future industrial policy interventions and sector support measures.
This comes as Zimbabwe’s leather sector undergoes a structural transformation under the Zimbabwe Leather Sector Strategy (2021–2030), shifting from raw hide exports to value-added and design-driven manufacturing.
Speaking during a virtual stakeholder consultative meeting for the leather and leather products value chain on Friday, the Ministry’s Director for the Light Industry Department, Mrs Netai Magade, said it was critical to review the performance of the leather and leather products sector during the first quarter of 2026 and deliberate on key strategic issues affecting the industry.
“The Ministry is working towards the production of a Report on the State of the Industry and Prospects for 2027: Pathways for Value Addition, Beneficiation and Transformation. Focus is on all the sub-sectors of industry, including leather and leather products,” she said.
“The meeting is critical for us to jointly unpack the pertinent dynamics that impact on the sector’s production and indeed productivity and its market performance. We also want to understand the sector’s supply dynamics and raw material availability.”
Mrs Magade said understanding investment developments in the sector and trends in its economic performance, as well as the overall outlook of the industry, was equally important.
She said the leather industry remains an important sub-sector of Zimbabwe’s economy and contributes significantly towards gross domestic product (GDP) growth and employment creation.
“As we journey towards Vision 2030, the Ministry would like to unlock the sector’s full economic potential. First, we need to understand its capacity utilisation, import requirements and operational challenges. We also need to understand to what extent the sector sources its raw materials locally and, by contrast, we also need to understand to what extent the sector is dependent on imported inputs, if at all it imports raw materials,” she added.
“It is against this background that the Ministry of Industry and Commerce has partnered with Africa Economic Development Strategies (AEDS) to undertake a comprehensive State of the Industry Survey aimed at assessing the performance, opportunities, challenges and investment prospects across key industrial sectors.”
Mrs Magade said the partnership would provide valuable sector-specific insights and recommendations that would contribute towards evidence-based policy formulation and strengthening future industrial interventions across industrial value chains.
She said Government continues to prioritise local production, import substitution, value addition and industrial growth under the Zimbabwe National Industrial Development Policy 2 (ZNIDP 2) (2026–2030), National Development Strategy 2 (NDS 2) and Vision 2030.
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