China’s central government has issued new guidelines to encourage manufacturers to invest in innovation, improve their competitiveness and lift people out of unemployment, writes Leatherbiz. Official data has shown an increase in investment in a variety of manufacturing sectors in the first four months of 2022, with the leather industry one of those singled out for particular praise. In the comments it made on announcing the new guidelines, the government said leather was one of the industries to have increased investment by more than 20% during the early part of 2022.