What happened last week: Although the week was generally quiet the number of hides sold increased remarkably. This was only noticed at the end of the week when the figures were added up. Most of the sales were generated within the regular customer base. New interest has been noticed from shoe tanners from the Middle and the Far East in particular. We believe that this is simply due to the fact that the demand for selected types of leathers can no longer be covered with what the traditional supply tanners have to offer. Hence others attempt to enter into the market which seems to be enjoying top performance at present. However, most of them are finding a market which is very much cleaned up, so there is a tendency to stay with regular clients rather than risk business with new ones where the outcome of the trials is uncertain.

The interest and demand for lightweight hides and kips as well as for ox/heifer types can be described as strong and consistent. The same applies to the classical continental European bull hide, however, here the situation is far more supply driven. The sharp fall in the kill across Central Europe has created bottlenecks in the procurement of this standard product. Consequently, tanners have to look again into available substitutes that have been neglected for quite a long time. Some are trying to solve the problem by buying the same types but different weight ranges, predominantly lighter ones, while others are sourcing origins in a broader European context. In any case, the low kill has led to an unpleasant situation.

The dairy cow situation still remains difficult. With some optimism we can expect a bit more interest this week and an increasing number of Letters of Credits, which we see as a very positive development. We feel that in general there has been more movement in cows although it might be too early to call it a stable trend for the better. We had similar weekly flurries in the first quarter but they never caused a real change. However, the lower kill is starting to break the dominance of the demand we have seen for so long, as the reduced supply has, for the first time in a long time, absorbed excessive inventory of salted material. While for bulls the stocks are starting to exhaust, we believe the inventories of standard northern dairy cows are still adequate and it would require a few more active weeks to clean all positions up. However, the general mood among sellers has certainly seen an improvement although it only translated into better prices with bulls. 

The kill: No change. The slaughter remains very low and with May holidays ahead of us we have no hope for any significant improvement but we would not be surprised if total weekly numbers did not decline further.

What do we expect? The coming weeks will definitely give us more information about the market directions. The show in Bologna will indicate if the positive trend in shoes and leathergoods is maintained and if we should expect any changes in fashion. We remain cautious with upholstery. Better quality and heavy leathers may show better performance but for the economical mainstream products there is little reason to be more positive. The present situation is supporting prices for males and heifers, while dairy cows should just about hold theirs.

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	€ 1.50	Steady
	25/29.5 kg	27.5/28.5 kg	22/27 kg	25/26 kg	€ 1.35	Steady
Dairy cows	15/24.5 kg	22.5/23.5 kg	13/22 kg	20/21 kg	€ 1.45	Steady
	25/29.5 kg	27.5/28.5 kg	22/27 kg	25/26 kg	€ 1.28	Steady
	30/+      kg	33.5/35.5 kg	27/+   kg	29/31 kg	€ 1.18	Steady
Bulls	25/29.5 kg	27.5/28.5 kg	22/ 27 kg	25/26 kg	€ 1.52	Steady
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