China spent $3 billion on wet blue in 2013
02/09/2014
Mr Hein told leatherbiz that this figure came from the Chinese government, and said he was confident there would continue to be strong demand for wet blue from companies such as his among Chinese tanners.
He said: “The fact is that costs are continuing to increase every year for wet-end hides processing. With the Chinese government increasing its crackdown on environmental issues, the criteria for these changes come at a huge cost to tanners.”
In Mr Hein’s opinion, in the face of all the challenges they face at the moment, processing brine-cured hides instead of just buying wet blue will be “in the ‘too hard’ basket for most tanners”. He added: “There will be the diehards that will keep wet bluing in China, but at what cost? And will they be able to meet finished leather price pressures?”
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