German Perspective - 14.06.16
14/06/2016
When most people opened their computers on Monday morning they would be pleased to see emails from China either asking for offers, quotes or even bidding for hides. The initial bids were certainly just to test the water and after a bit of negotiation it became very obvious that the buying teams at different organisations had been sticking their heads together to decide how much they were willing to pay and which types they want to buy. When this level had been reached any additional counter was totally useless, because nobody was willing to pay even a single cent more than the levels obviously agreed within the organised customer base.
In the case of dairy cows, we are talking about prices around the early-to-mid-50s, with a little fine-tuning based on the reputation of the supplier and the average weights on offer. The weights are actually the biggest problem. Tanners at the moment are almost exclusively looking for material as heavy as possible at a time of the year when average weights are close to their lowest levels. Some suppliers try to solve that with their general average weights while others are trying to move lighter weights only. However, the customer base is pretty stubborn and will continue cherry-picking for as long as possible.
In the end we are not totally sure about how many hides have been sold in total, but it seems fair to say that almost everybody did some bits and pieces, making this one of the better weeks in terms of sales to Asia since the APLF exhibition in Hong Kong at the start of April. However, with the present abattoir prices hardly anyone is really happy, because the prices obtained in conjunction with the lower US dollar value are not sufficient to cover cost levels.
Bids and sales into Italy have failed to please anyone because customers down there also have pretty clear price ideas, which are not any better than the ones obtained from Asia. Also several bids for heifers were seen, but quite a few dollars below what could be considered reasonable. In the male sections European hides should look quite attractive but no interest at all was seen and many tanners are justifying their resistance by quoting technical problems with EU hides for many finished leather articles, in particular for shoe leathers.
The total sales numbers can be considered to be reasonable for three days of the week, but for a full week we would think that they have fallen short of expectations.
The kill: The kill remains pretty low, which is not unusual for the time of the year and even less so considering the weather conditions we have at the moment.
What we expect: It is going to be interesting to see what kind of decisions buyers have taken in China during the holiday break. Generally, commodity prices are trending upwards and this could be the trigger for more interest in the hide market. However, we are still lacking any convincing, positive news about leather demand and retail.
Type
| Weight range | Avg. green weight | Salted weight | Avg. weight salted | Price per kg green weight | Trend | |
| Ox/heifers | 15/24,5 kg | 22,0/23,5 kg | 13/22 kg | 20/21 kg | € 2,30 |
Weak |
| 25/29,5 kg | 27,5/28,5 kg | 22/27 kg | 25/26 kg | € 1.80 |
Weak |
|
|
Dairy cows |
15/24,5 kg |
22,5/23,5 kg |
13/22 kg |
20/21 kg |
€ 1.70 |
Weak |
|
25/29,5 kg |
27,5/28,5 kg |
22/27 kg |
25/26 kg |
€ 1,45 |
Stabilizing | |
|
30/+ kg |
33,5/35,5 kg |
27/+ kg |
29/31 kg |
€ 1,40 |
Stabilizing | |
| Bulls | 25/29,5 kg | 27,5/28,5 kg | 22/ 27 kg | 25/26 kg | € 1,90 |
Weak |
| 30/39,5 kg | 36,0/37,0 kg | 24/34 kg | 31/33 kg | € 1.90 |
Steady |
|
| 40/+ kg | 45,0/48,0 kg | 34/+ kg | 38/40 kg | € 1.85 |
Steady |
|
| Thirds | 15/+ kg | 25,0/27,5 kg | 13/+ kg | 24/26 kg | € 1,30 |
Steady |
| Thirds bulls | 30/+ kg | 38,0/40,0 kg | 24/+ kg | 33/36 kg | € 1.30 |
Soft |
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