High hide prices hurt German leather industry
28/08/2013
On announcing the figures, the German Leather Industry Association (VDL) said the main reasons for the fall in revenues were a weaker German economy, the slow recovery in some of the main buyer markets for high-end upholstery and car interiors (the segments into which German tanners sell 80% of their finished leather) and the high price of raw materials.
VDL said the price of raw hides increased by 7% in 2012 compared to the previous year, following to a rise of 15% in 2011 compared to 2010. It also bemoaned the decline of hide production in the European Union, with output falling by 4.2% in 2012 compared to 2011. The 2012 total production, across the whole of the EU, was 27.5 million hides, VDL said.
The organisation was more upbeat about the German leather industry’s performance in the early part of 2013, with an increase of 7% in sales in the first four months of this year compared to the same period in 2012, and an increase of more than 7% in export revenues. This was in spite of a further increase in raw material prices in the first quarter of 2013 of 23% year on year. It said the federal government expects growth of 0.3% in the German economy this year, and of 1.5% in 2014.
Germany is still the third-largest EU producer of quality bovine leather, VDL added, and the twelfth-largest in the world.
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