This week: Many people made the effort again to travel to Hong Kong for the APLF fair last week. This was more focused on the mass markets than Lineapelle, which took place in Milan a few weeks before.

Most of the leather manufacturers that exhibited individually were those that already have a stable customer base in Asia and did not expect to attract new customers. Rather, they sought to use APLF as a central meeting point to talk to their customers from all over the region in one spot. 

It is difficult to judge exactly, but it seems that there were more exhibitors looking to sell raw and semi-finished goods than there were visitors looking for leather suppliers. Apart from that, everything was the same as always, only much more relaxed. There was no big news to tell; all opinions and views on the current global political situation and its effects had already been exchanged beforehand and therefore the discussions were focused on business relationships.

Of course, we were not in an easy position, because at least for our customers in China, it was not clear when we will be able to deliver goods to China again. There was news on the second day that Germany was generally considered free from foot and mouth disease again, with certain minor restrictions, but it was not known until the end of the trade fair whether the Chinese authorities would see it that way immediately. At least the first step has been taken and now we hope that the German authorities will quickly and intensively find a solution with the Chinese authorities. This has not yet happened and even goods that were shipped before the outbreak have not yet been cleared for import.

Without really being actively involved in the market, it is of course difficult to make a real assessment of the market situation. In principle, however, it can be said that demand remains rather depressed and therefore price pressure is still more likely to persist for most categories. This was also evident for material from many other countries.

In earlier times, such a situation would certainly have caused a lot more excitement, but the trade is now taking it much more calmly, safe in the knowledge that there is not much they can do to change things.

No great renaissance in demand for leather could be observed in Hong Kong; the only thing that can now be taken for granted is that some leather production, especially for shoes, has once again started to move more towards the Indian sub-continent.

For the few deals that were available, prices changed very little and when they did, they had to be adjusted slightly downwards. In conjunction with the weaker dollar, revenues in euro on overseas markets are falling again.

The kill: Surprisingly, the kill continues to change very little. The level remains still very high for the time of year and, in view of the slight decline in the number of animals, the question for the rest of the year is whether there will still be enough cattle available for slaughter if the demand does not decline.

What we expect: In the coming weeks, the first issue to be addressed will probably be whether the export of German hides to China will become possible again. Only then will it be possible to get a reasonable overview of the market situation. In Europe, prices are changing very little and there are some relatively active buyers for heavy material, although the vast majority of leather factories appear to be rather cautious. Leather orders are not increasing, nor are the call-offs for leather, and we are now entering the assuredly quieter phase in production and the months with a higher number of public holidays.

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