According to shoe manufacturers, the cause for this hike in prices is that the only three companies that sell leather cut back on production. "At first hides were scarce, and the sellers were colluding… and now they came back with a price that is far too high", summed up Alejandro Delgado, president of the Nicaraguan Chamber of Leather and Footwear (Cancunic). "The jump in raw material prices has been passed on to the footwear buyers", he added, which will result in an increase of 5 US dollars per a pair of shoes, as compared to last year.

The shortage of leather generated a reduction in both local sales and exports, which are no longer competitive in the Costa Rican and Panama market. Shoe manufacturers have managed in the short term to import leather from Mexico and Guatemala to meet the demand for school shoes needed for this month. However, Delgado explained that "it won’t be enough to finish the year. We are going to reach September with Mexico and with Guatemala until October, but we will be out of supplies in November and December".

This scenario is a blow for the sector, which had projected to produce more than 14 million pairs of shoes this year, and now it may barely reach 12 million shoes produced. The President of Cancunic believes that the sector might record losses between 8 and 10 million US dollars. In the meantime, Cancunic is talking with the Government to find a solution.