China exported 113,000 tons of leather in 2007, a decrease of 37.9 percent from the previous year, sources with the General Administration of Customs said on Sunday.

The exports were valued at $1.18 billion, down 33.1 percent.

Of the total sales, foreign-funded enterprises made up 62 percent, or 70,000 tons, down 38.3 percent.

The decline was due largely to government policy to restrict leather export.

Taking resources conservation and environmental protection into consideration, China banned importing rawhide for re-export processing and discontinued export rebates for leather in 2006. In April 2007, the country began to include leather into catalogue for forbidden processing trade projects.

As a result, leather sold abroad in processing trade went down 47.1 percent to 76,000 tons last year, accounting for 67.1 percent of the country's total leather exports. The proportion was down from 87.3 percent in 2005.

The sources said that 91.3 percent of the Chinese mainland's leather exports went to Hong Kong, the European Union, ASEAN members and the Republic of Korea.