Abstract: This study collects and sorts out the industrial sales output value of the leather industry from 2012 to 2019 in 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. To study and analyze the distribution characteristics and changing trends of the industrial sales output value of the leather industry in the past ten years, descriptive statistical analysis methods have been used . The results show that, from the perspective of spatial distribution, the development of the four major economic regions is extremely uneven, and the overall situation is strong in the east and weak in the west. The annual industrial sales output value of the eastern region alone can account for more than 70% of the country. There exists a big gap among provinces, regions and municipalities. The top three provinces of Fujian, Guangdong, and Zhejiang account for nearly 50% of the country's total output value.However, with the transfer of the eastern leather industry to the central and western regions, the regional differences show a narrowing trend. In terms of volatility, the eastern region is very stable, the central and western regions are relatively stable, while the northeastern region is volatile, with a coefficient of variation exceeding 50%. In terms of growth rate, the eastern region remained stable but the growth was weak, while the central region maintained a relatively high level of growth, the western region declined slightly, and the northeastern region declined significantly; this shows that the leather industry production capacity in the eastern region has a tendency to "spillover" to the central region. However, the western and northeastern regions have not yet enjoyed the “spillover” dividends of the eastern regions. This research is helpful to understand and grasp the geographical distribution and changing trends of China's leather industry, and has important reference value for the development of the leather industry.

Key words: leather industry, industrial sales output value, distribution characteristics, changing trend