Leather Pipeline: hides from the Americas competitive, but too late for upcoming seasons
19/05/2015
Following a strong first quarter for European raw material at the start of 2015, several factors have converged to open up the market again to hides from the US, Brazil and other American origins.
Perhaps the most important of these is that, according to the report, suppliers in the Americas have “finally had to accept that global leather demand is down”, leading to an adjustment in their prices. This coincided with a rebound in recent weeks of 8% in the value of the euro, relative to the US dollar, removing the advantage European traders had established in the early months of this year. Finally, to be sure of regaining market share, many suppliers have been offering further discounts to big tanning groups.
Nevertheless, this change has come too late to affect brands’ buying decisions for upcoming seasons and demand for leather, as suggested above, remains low. The report makes it clear that the high prices of material in 2014 are the key driver for this and that it can take between six and nine months for changes in hide prices to make an impression on the market.
The full report is available to paid Leatherbiz subscribers on our Market Info page. There, we also publish market intelligence from a US perspective and a German perspective.
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