{"id":281799,"date":"2019-07-17T07:59:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-17T11:59:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.google.com\/articles\/CBMiggFodHRwczovL3d3dy4ybWVya2F0by5jb20vbmV3cy9hbGVydHMvNTc1MS1ldGhpb3BpYW4taGlkZS1hbmQtc2tpbi1yZXF1aXJlLW1pbmltYWwtZGVncmVhc2luZy10by1jaGFuZ2UtdG8tbGVhdGhlci1yZXNlYXJjaC1yZXZlYWxz0gEA?oc=5"},"modified":"2026-10-11T13:57:51","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T17:57:51","slug":"ethiopian-hides-and-skins-need-little-degreasing-to-become-leather-a-three-year-study-of-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/281799","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopian hides and skins need little degreasing to become leather, a three-year study of 37 breeds finds"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Ethiopian hides and skins contain so little fat that tanneries need only small amounts of degreasing chemicals to turn them into leather, according to a three-year study of 37 local breeds.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"size-large wp-image-837608\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethiopian-leather-pouches-2025.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Pouches made from Ethiopian leather, January 2025\" \/><\/figure>\n<p style=\"text-align: left;\"><em>Pouches made from Ethiopian leather, January 2025 (Sindugab, Wikimedia Commons, CC0) [file photo]<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The study, titled \u201cEthiopia\u2019s Hide and Skin: Histological, Microscopic, Physical and Chemical Characterization, Defect Analysis and Technical Up-gradation,\u201d was released on 17 July 2019, the Ethiopian business portal 2merkato reported. It covered 12 cattle breeds, 15 sheep breeds and 10 goat breeds.<\/p>\n<p>Researcher Mohammed Hussein said the fat content of Ethiopian hides and skins ranges from 3 to 13 percent, which he described as no significant fat. Ethiopian sheepskin has an average nitrogen content of 13.5 percent, which makes it easier to process into leather.<\/p>\n<p>He said Ethiopian hides and skins have a thick corium, the dense inner layer that gives leather its strength, along with good substance and a fine grain pattern on the surface.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTanneries, therefore, need to reduce degreasing chemicals as this causes unnecessary wastage,\u201d Mohammed said. The study also identified which breeds are best suited for upgrading.<\/p>\n<p>It listed the main defects that lower the value of Ethiopian hides and skins: skin disease, knife cuts, pox, scars and wounds, and gauge marks.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.2merkato.com\/news\/alerts\/5751-ethiopian-hide-and-skin-require-minimal-degreasing-to-change-to-leather-research-reveals\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">2merkato<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ethiopian hides and skins contain so little fat that tanneries need only small amounts of degreasing chemicals to turn them into leather, according to a three-year study of 37 local breeds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837608,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7911,8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-281799","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/ethiopian-leather-pouches-2025.jpg?fit=1280%2C853&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1bj9","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281799","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=281799"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837644,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/281799\/revisions\/837644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837608"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=281799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=281799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=281799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}