German Perspective – 29.03.11
What happened this week: The week developed as expected. Waiting to see and doing the necessary minimum. Where close customer and supplier relations exist, attempts are being made to handle business relations as best as possible. However, nobody is really happy with this and the biggest problem is not whether the market is firm or not, but the level of prices for the majority of North German hides which don’t fit into the global price frame. It is pretty hard to convince and to negotiate when prices are not really competitive, no matter whether they are high or low. We share this problem with some other origins too and it can only be hoped that a fair valuation of hides will be achieved again to return to ‘normal’ trading conditions. This is directly related to abattoir price levels and the outcome and impressions from the APLF show in Hong Kong.
