Friedrich Sturm Market Report - 08.04.04
The US $ in EURO
1,2100
What happened this week: The week is not particularly worth to report. Most of the trade tried to settle in again after their trips to the Far East and so was the market activity more on the low side, with also many already left for a long Easter break. Anyway, as much as business was lackluster it was not nil. Some follow- up trades from Hongkong were still concluded and some of the regular European program sales were also due for renewal, so that hide sales reached – in numbers – better levels than the activity would made believe. Price negotiations were tough, but at the end prices remained entirely steady with asking levels easier obtainable on dairy cows and heifers, while bulls were a tough struggle. Well, not a surprise as this was anyway expected. Total numbers were almost evenly divided between cows, heifers and bulls and so were also the destinations with half of the sales going to Asia and the other half staying in Europe. News from the leather business are not encouraging – at least not from Europe. A struggling Spanish operation finally went into chapter 11 and others are said to follow soon, if not the great surprise is happening and
