Mexico: criminal gangs cash in on hides
22/01/2015
He explained that criminal gangs, especially in southern states in Mexico, have begun to focus on hide traders and are demanding money from operators who collect hides in parts of the country such as Veracruz, Puebla and Tabasco and transport them north to León, which has the largest number of tanneries in Mexico.
Mr Collazo said that tanners in León have not been directly affected so far. “The price is the price,” he said. “The price of hides is dictated by supply and demand. If the price goes up in the international market, it goes up in León too, and if it goes down in the international market, it goes down here too.”
He went on to say that it’s the hide traders that are being affected and that it’s these suppliers his member companies are concerned about. “Many of them collect hides in quite small areas and then the hides are gathered together in larger volumes for transportation to León,” he explained. “Gangs have begun to demand money from them in a kind of protection racket.”
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