By Mabuchi Chunga

The Leather Association of Malawi is optimistic that the reopening of the country’s airports will help revamp the sector which has been dormant since the closure of borders and suspension of air travel due to Covid-19 pandemic.

The association’s President Edward Malunga commended the development and said it is a good move especially for their trade as resources to make various commodities have been hard to come by.

“This is a very welcome move that the government and the aviation people have implemented,” said Malunga.

He also lamented that without any avenue to import goods that are used in their trade they have found business to be very difficult.

“Since the country does not have backbone when it comes to raw material because most of the raw material that we use are imported and this has hampered the manufacturing side,” said Malunga.

He however said that with the resumption of flight in the country the situation will improve since they will be able to import the needy raw material that has not been available.

“Now that the flights have been resumed that is a very positive move and we are expecting that our business are going to running smoothly since we will be able to order the needed raw material,” said Malunga.

Since the beginning of this year the leather industry has faced a lot of turbulence due to measures set in place to help contain the pandemic such as closure of borders and suspension of air travel.