# Meat, hides and skins: Somalia's livestock products

> Somalia's meat, hides and skins trade: chilled meat exports and how the chain works, hides and skins volumes and buyers, quality losses, and bone and tallow products.

Source page: https://calankii.com/en/economy/meat-hides-and-skins/
Last checked: 2026-11-13
Publisher: Calankii (https://calankii.com)

## Meat exports

The African Exponent, citing the Central Bank's quarterly reports, gives these values for fresh meat exports ([African Exponent, 29 July 2026](https://www.africanexponent.com/how-livestock-became-somalias-first-billion-dollar-export-industry/)):

| Period | Meat exports |
|---|---|
| 2023 | About USD 16 million |
| Last quarter of 2024 | USD 4.95 million |
| First quarter of 2025 | USD 13.7 million |

Adding meat, hides and skins to live animals took total livestock export earnings to an estimated **USD 1.03 billion in 2024**, according to the same report, citing the Somali Development and Reconstruction Bank. See [Livestock exports](/en/economy/livestock-exports/).

## How the chilled meat trade works

A 2012 study by the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) and Terra Nuova mapped the chilled meat chain, from herders to exporters who fly carcasses to the Gulf ([Negassa and others, ILRI Research Report 32, 2012](https://cgspace.cgiar.org/handle/10568/24793)). It found:

- A grading system for slaughter animals that traders widely recognise.
- Only exporters understood the health and safety rules of importing countries.
- Exporters paid mainly by carcass weight; agents paid per live animal.
- Exporters and agents had long-term ties, while herders sold for cash, deal by deal.
- Goats were more profitable to trade, and bigger operators had lower costs.
- Lack of money to invest was the main barrier traders named.

## Hides and skins

A study by Terra Nuova, ILRI and the IGAD [Sheikh](/en/regions/sheikh/) Technical Veterinary School mapped the hides and skins trade in [Somaliland](/en/states/somaliland-1991-to-2026/) in 2016, in [Borama](/en/regions/awdal/), Gabiley, Hargeisa, Berbera, [Burao](/en/regions/togdheer/), Las Anod and [Erigavo](/en/regions/sanaag/) ([Terra Nuova, 23 February 2017](https://terranuova.org/news-en/hide-and-skins-trade-in-somaliland)). It found:

- In **2015**, Somaliland exported about **1,200 tonnes of skins** (dried and "wet blue", a first stage of tanning) and **700 tonnes of hides**.
- Buyers were in **[Pakistan](/en/diaspora/somalis-in-south-asia/), India, China and Turkey**.
- Up to **30 percent** of goods were rejected for low quality.

UN trade data compiled by the OEC show Somalia's exports of "other hides and skins" in 2022 at about **USD 1.19 million**, almost all to Pakistan ([OEC](https://oec.world/profile/bilateral-product/other-hides-and-skins/reporter/som)). Hides and skins exports rose 43 percent in the first quarter of 2025, the African Exponent reported, without giving a value.

## Bones and tallow

In Somaliland, bones from slaughterhouses and butchers are made into jewellery and household items, and fat (tallow) into soap. ILRI found the two chains directly employed more than 150 people and supported about 1,000. Soap sold for about USD 0.5 a bar, and in 2014 the tallow and soap chain was worth about USD 150,000 to the groups making it ([ILRI, 25 January 2019](https://www.ilri.org/news/assessing-somalilands-bone-and-tallow-value-chains-role-towards-economic-growth)). The same article puts Somaliland's 2014 live exports at 3.4 million animals.

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