What happened this week: After a long time with little excitement the situation has become more interesting. It is not very often that the hide market actually moves in different directions, but this is the case at present and can be attributed to regional reasons. While our assumptions on the trend for average and standard materials continues to materialise slowly but surely, the hide market’s ‘island in the sun’ of the past has been facing increasing clouds and there may even be a little thunderstorm on the horizon. Extra heavy bulls, and in particular those at the higher quality end, are facing massive resistance from tanners and the price trend is moving south.

At the same time we saw an active round of buying from Asia this week with strong tailwinds from a firmer US$ and a firmer US market in general. And although the strong resistance to higher prices persists, bids are becoming less aggressive and negotiations are getting shorter. Terms and conditions are also becoming easier to settle. The strongest indication for a better tone in the market is, however, the reasonably short shipping times requested. So, for the coming four to six weeks one can assume that there will be a decent clearance of existing stocks and productions – except for the categories mentioned above that are struggling.

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