What happened this week: Slowly but surely the northern parts of the country are returning to work while the centre and the south are still enjoying their summer break for another couple of weeks.

The focus of much discussions is the question of whether we are entering a second wave of covid-19 cases or if recent increases in cases are a consequence of the high rate of mobility that the holiday season brought. No matter what, it is a bit disturbing to see that even countries that had been almost free of covid-19 are suddenly presenting new outbreaks and spreads. The medical systems in most countries can still handle the situation and it seems that even though there are higher rates, at the same time there seem, in general, to be milder symptoms. Society has got to get used to the situation; most people do not consider another lockdown to be an adequate or realistic option. With scientists and politicians not really clear in their statements it might be better to be prepared for all eventualities.

As far as business is concerned the end of the holiday season is around the corner. There is no escape: everyone running a business now has to take decisions about the future and for the months to come. It’s becoming clearer by the day that just shutting down, doing nothing and simply waiting is no longer an option for the majority of producers. In particular, the automotive industry is beginning to display higher production levels and to have a more optimistic outlook for the rest of this year, as long as covid-19 does not interrupt production or the supply chain once again.

Also the Chinese continue to be active because they have a real need to make sure that their supply of raw material is well planned. The usual reflex in this trade is to believe that this might have a positive effect on prices. Well, tanners have a different opinion and, as far as we understand, most attempts at any significant price increase have failed. This can’t come as a surprise because there is still a lot of raw material around and buyers can still pick and walk away from anyone who is too ambitious in terms of prices. There are also still too many sellers who are willing to sell because they prefer to have the sales on their books.

Tanners are quite selective and continue to buy limited volumes to make the leather orders they hold or expect. They are still convinced that there are enough hides waiting and that they need only buy what they have to. We have tried to compensate for the loss in currency values but with only very limited success.

This week we have been quite satisfied with a number of enquiries but not with the number of sales in the end. Bits and pieces, in particular for some heavy males and the top-quality females, were all that landed in the net in the end. Prices were on the firm side of stable, with only a fraction of increase here and there.

The kill: The kill is really good for this time of the year and so are the weights. It might be that farmers are destocking their female herds and releasing their feed-lot males. Otherwise we cannot explain the numbers or the weights.

What we expect: We are now really eagerly awaiting to see if the interest of last week is going to turn into business. Sparkling water or champagne? At least there is something to look forward to.

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