This week: We can make little substantive contribution to the market situation at the moment. On the one hand, the main markets in Asia are on their Lunar New Year holidays and this year they actually seem to be serious about taking a break. Apart from the occasional enquiry about deliveries and their processing, we have seen little interest from there.

Of course, this is hardly surprising because, to be honest, there are only very limited opportunities to ship to China at the moment. There are always ways and means, but at the moment there is no specific pressure as to why there should be any particular risk for German hides.

The situation regarding foot and mouth disease is unchanged. Fortunately, there have been no further confirmed infections since the first and only case. Livestock is still being tested on a large scale and wild animals are still being hunted intensively and samples tested. The big questions now are about how long it will take for Germany to be considered disease-free again and how and when it will be possible to reach interim solutions with important export markets.

Regionalisation, which applies within the EU, would be one solution and there are already individual countries that accept this procedure. Unfortunately, these are not the countries that are of greatest importance to us as export markets. At the moment, we can only hope that no further cases will occur in the coming weeks so that we can at least assume that this really was just an isolated incident.

There is also very little to report in other markets at the moment. It does not appear that leather manufacturers in Europe are currently receiving additional orders and therefore need to stock up on additional raw materials. Rather, the opposite is the case and one gets the feeling that the majority of them are preoccupied with how to adjust production and capacities to the lower demand or whether there are opportunities to utilise the drums for other purposes and other products. Exceptions always prove the rules, but as a general statement you have to accept this at the moment.

Owing to the low level of activity and the upcoming new price negotiations with the abattoirs, the official prices are changing little at the moment, without this being interpreted as a true reflection of the market situation. With the exception of heavy, male cattle hides, there is hardly any possibility of further major price adjustments.

The kill: The kill remained at a fairly high level for January. The demand for meat continues to be higher than one would expect, both domestically and abroad. Prices have also rebounded after a brief decline and while it is never enough, cattle prices are currently at the upper end of the long-term cycles.

What we expect: Under the current circumstances, it is very difficult to find any plausible and convincing arguments for market forecasts for German hides. The circumstances make us a pawn in the game of global developments, giving us less influence on pricing than ever before. If the desire is there, goods will always find their way to buyers somehow, which is why global demand for leather remains the only real factor influencing price trends. However, we do not expect any significant price changes in the short term, although we remain convinced that they are long overdue for some product groups.

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