Sara Os Leather targets expansion

The BOI has succeeded in considerably diversifying the country's economy and the range of exports by encouraging investment into Sri Lanka. Minister of Enterprise Development and Investment Promotion Dr. Sarath Amunugama, stressed the importance of developing a diversified economy, capable of producing a wide range of high quality products that are able to capture world markets.

Sara Os Leather (Pvt) Ltd, which specialised in the manufacture of a wide range of leather accessories operates a state- of-the-art Belt, Bag and Wallet manufacturing plant at Boralesgamuwa.

Chairman and MD of Sara Os Leather Senaka Silva, said that the demand for good high quality accessories will grow considerably.

For example, Sri Lanka needs almost 100,000 webbing or cloth belts a day to cater to the Export Apparel industry and these are all being imported from China. "We are catering to part of this demand and the major players in the apparel industry has begun to recognise this fact and are placing orders with Sara and taking advantage of the GSP+ duty savings on their exports to the EU.

We need to expand to take advantage of this important segment of the market. Bags, belts and wallets are like bread and butter; it is a basic requirement for men's or women's clothing. Everyone requires a belt and a wallet. Every woman carries a handbag and a purse. Our quality is up to any international standard", he said.

The production capacity is approximately 65,000 webbing/cloth belts, 35,000 leather belts, 7,000 handbags and 8,000 wallets per month.