Market Intelligence: hopes for answers at Lineapelle, global events allowing
Our newest Market Intelligence report warns that geopolitical tensions in Ukraine can have an effect on leather manufacturers, on their customers and on their suppliers, as on all parts of the global economy.
It points out that the events of February 21 and 22 showed how quickly the situation can change, increasing uncertainty for countries and companies everywhere.
On February 21, Russian president, Vladimir Putin, sent troops into two rebel-held parts of eastern Ukraine, Donetsk and Luhansk, calling it a peacekeeping operation. The response from western governments on February 22 was to announce economic sanctions, the most serious of which was Germany’s decision not to continue with certification of the Nord Stream 2 pipeline project for bringing natural gas from Russia to Germany.
These developments unfolded just as the first edition of 2022 of Lineapelle was beginning in Milan. Our Market Intelligence report makes it clear that many industry figures have travelled to Milan in the hope of achieving greater clarity about the prospects of a recovery in demand for leather in the global market.
The report says all eyes are on footwear at the moment because “it is very unlikely that, without the shoe sector, a significant revival of the leather business can be achieved”. It goes on to say that this would be a good time, geopolitical events allowing, for large producers of mainstream footwear to renew their interest in the material because, it insists, “leather is competitive and attractive again”.
