"The researches carried out have shown that it is not possible to find a commercially available sturgeon leather on the market. Some tests have already been carried out in some regions, but using chromium-tanning and only on a laboratory scale. Sturskin aims to propose not only the tanning of sturgeon skins using vegetable tannins (replacing chromium), but above all the tanning of sturgeon leathers on an industrial scale.
The expected results are exciting: the analyses carried out have shown that, dealing with a niche market, it is possible to obtain very high margins. The Sturskin business appears extremely promising, and the economic and financial projections are positive. In the best scenario, the NPV (basing on CF as proposed) expected to be two years after the launch of the product on the market is € 1,148,768, with a PBP of 12 months; in the worst case scenario, the NPV expected at two years is € 217,727, with a PBP of 22 months. Sturskin represents an investment with very high added value, thanks also to the low incidence of initial start up costs and the possibility of implement a lean pull productive model.
In addition to the economic sphere, the project touches the environment field. The choice to produce using a vegetable tanning process is in itself an excellent added value, given the known collateral effects that the metallic tanning have on the environment and on human health. But moreover, the proposed model aims to give new life and value to a material that would otherwise be just a waste of the caviar industry. This waste, usually disposed of through incineration or only partially used in isinglass production, is taken and valorised in a circular economy that reinserts the by-products in the production chain. The by-product from a high added value sector is thus ""saved"", and transformed into a product also with high added value, both from an aesthetic, economic and environmental point of view.
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