This week: In Europe, at least, production stops this week and most tanneries then close for a week or, in many cases, for two. However long the stoppage is, in principle purchases and deliveries are fixed until at least mid-January and hardly anyone will be concerned with the question of rawhide purchases until then. The situation is certainly somewhat different for overseas customers and it would not be surprising if the usual suspects did not also try to use the holiday period in Europe to find one or two special offers in the next 14 days.

Unfortunately, most of our employees will still have to work for the next two weeks. Slaughtering will continue and overseas shipments will also have to be handled. The volume is less than normal, but unfortunately we cannot take a longer break. In Europe, smaller deals for January were made here and there, and one or two enquiries also arrived from Asia, mostly for items that are not available at the moment. In Europe it was mostly just adjustments to existing programmes.

With covid-19 infections rising, market participants remain cautious and one has the impression that everyone will be happy to have a few days in which they are not forced to make business decisions. If it weren’t for the great uncertainties caused by the pandemic, one could say that the market has found a balance and acceptable price levels. Apart from the fact that every seller always wants to have more money and every buyer would like to pay less, one has the feeling that everyone has little interest in major change at the moment. This is definitely the case with us and we would therefore welcome a longer period of stability under the given circumstances.

We can find hardly any reason why major price changes could be justified, and certainly not one that could have any positive effect on business at the present time. Significantly cheaper prices for hides would not stimulate demand much; significantly higher prices would not be justifiable in the current situation, nor would they really be feasible in the long term. More clarity on political and economic developments is therefore needed before other price levels could be justified.

The volume of sales last week was very moderate and the prices completely unchanged from the previous week. In the end we did not have so many hides to sell that we could consider lower bids.  Nor did we find any buyer who was motivated enough to consider higher prices to secure raw material supply. This is usually called: market in balance.

The kill: The beginning of last week still saw high kill levels, but from Wednesday onwards volumes dropped significantly. Beef demand for the holidays from the supermarkets is covered and from what we hear, slaughter is expected to be significantly lower for the rest ofthe year. It is not yet possible to make a forecast for the beginning of the year.

What we expect: Something sensational would have to happen to move the market in the next few weeks. There is neither noticeable unsatisfied demand, nor considerable unsold stocks, nor do we sense any great speculative ambition at the moment. Hardly any significant movement should be expected in the hide market at least until mid-January.

Share this story: