Despite all the hype and enthusiasm, only cheaper materials could really benefit from the market situation while medium and higher priced origins struggled to gain significantly. All in all we would not be surprised if a lot more talking took place than trading. What was sold mostly went to regular buyers and it frequently took the full three days of the show to agree on price. Tanners continued to offer bids below asking levels and were finally forced to understand that, under the present circumstances, their regular suppliers would not be accepting the offers. Most buyers surrendered and asking prices were paid. Tests to push the market much higher failed, however, and the super optimists will have to wait some weeks if their dreams are to become a reality. One thing also became clear during the week in Asia: risk is rising and the imbalance between supply and demand needs to be sorted out, either by a slow down in leather demand or production cuts—voluntarily or forced. There is serious concern that we are heading towards some unhappy surprises in this business and it is more a question of ‘when’ rather than ‘if’.

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