Chinese mainland's leather bag and wallet exports increased 34 percent in value in 2005 to 2.3 billion U.S. dollars, according to Global Sources' China Sourcing Report "Leather Bags & Wallets".

According to a press release from the Global Sources Thursday, the report profiles a selection of large, midsize and emerging Chinese mainland manufacturers. It includes new products, pricing forecasts and supply market trends.

Top export markets were the United States with imports valued at over 740 million U.S. dollars, Japan with 475.2 million U.S. dollars, and Italy with 114 million U.S. dollars.

"In 2005, export volume declined but export value was up as makers hiked quotes to offset higher raw material costs," Global Sources' General Manager of Content Development, Michael Kleist, said. "Manufacturers anticipate higher raw material costs will continue to be a problem this year."

The supply of mainland-made leather bags and wallets is expected to rise, with surveyed manufacturers planning production capacity increases, 63 percent of suppliers plan increases of up to 20 percent and 34 percent indicated increases of 20 to 50 percent.

The 133-page China Sourcing Report "Leather Bags & Wallets" includes detailed profiles of 76 Chinese mainland manufacturers and features a product gallery with 258 top-selling export models.

Global Sources is one of the leading business-to-business (B2B) media company and its core business is facilitating trade from the Chinese mainland, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and China's Taiwan to the world.

The company provides sourcing information to volume buyers and integrated marketing services to suppliers. It helps a community of over 484,000 active buyers source more profitably from complex, overseas supply markets.

Source: Xinhua