Brazilian tanners complain about raw material and wet blue prices
07/11/2012
In comments in recent days to local media, tanners have said that, although the volume of exports they achieved in the six-month period was 7% higher than in the first half of 2011, the value of the shipments is 2% lower. They have attributed this to growth in demand from China, but only for wet blue.
Exports to China increased by 23% compared to the first half of 2011. Measured by weight, Brazil exported 291,700 tonnes of hides at different stages of completion in the tanning process to China during the first six months of this year. This brought in export revenues of $1.5 billion.
However, over the same period, shipments to Italy fell by 16% in volume to 298,200 tonnes.
Reacting to these figures, Elias Seleme Neto, president of the Viposa tannery in Caçador in Santa Catalina state, said: “Demand from Europe is down so Asia is the only export market we are left with. But China only wants semi-finished leather, which provides little profit margin.”
For his part, Rodrigo Saragioto, commercial director of Couros Romeu, says the situation in the domestic market is difficult too, alleging that the acquisition policies of JBS and other large groups has seen them “buy up any packers that were offering good-quality hides, leaving other tanners with the lower-quality raw material that is left”.
And even this raw material is scarce and expensive, according to Mr Saragioto, with the price having gone up by 40% in recent months.
Share this story:
