Meatco’s Okapuka Tannery employs 38 people but the sophisticated automated method used requires minimal human intervention to process fresh and salted hides to the wet blue stage. 

Thorn bushes and branding can cause defects. Therefore, hides of Namibian origin are classified as corrected or heavily corrected grain-type leather.

Wet blue is the first stage of leather processing. Bovine hides are the most important raw material used in the leather industry globally. The current contribution of wet blue to the Namibian GDP is larger than that of locally produced value-added products, making it worth considering as a standalone product.