What happened this week: This was the third week in a row where market activity was neither here nor there. Activity was once again mainly coincidental trading and the only regular sales were seen in the Italian market for cows. Some buyers are already considering purchases far ahead into 2006. Tanners in that part of the world seem to be the only ones carrying an extended order book at fixed price levels. It is pretty obvious that most of these orders date back into September/October and many will be for export to the US$ region. With the firmer trend of the American currency and a basically steady hide market since then, margins on the order book have widened slightly and tanners obviously prefer to secure the present conditions rather than to speculate on falling raw material prices.

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