What happened this week: The Miami Leather Fair last week was not very well attended. Most of the talk was about the BSE problem and how it will affect the leather business over the next months and years. Every one tried to figure out if there were news or opinions. The are in fact very few since it all depends of the politicians and the consumer. Two absolutely unpredictable parameters. The total number of BSE cases reached 20 now. There was also some business this week. The demand for bulls remained strong and the increased supply was readily taken up by European tanners. Also ox/heifers found interest but at abt. 5 % below asking levels. Cows were

difficult and limited interest from Italy. Korea and other Asian potential customers for this material are on holidays at present. Talks with Koreans confirmed however, that the demand for hides for the garment production will not be hot for the next 4-6 weeks. Heavy cows are in much shorter supply and consequently there was not too much pressure on this. In the leather biz the trend of the previous weeks continued. Good quality leathers are still in strong demand from all sections while economical leathers face substantial price pressure. Shoe business seemed to be good and with the cold winter in the USA at least there the clearance of winter shoes was very good. In Europe things are

still concentrating on good quality furniture and automotive leathers. We remain surprised about the financial strength of most of the tanning industry since so far no major payment problems occurred. The kill: Slaughter continues to focus on bulls. This is very fortunate since this is were the demand is and so the missing quantities of December can be made up. We think that the kill of bulls is abt. 20 % above normal and cows abt. 40 % below normal. For next week we do not expeact change and any variation would require a decision on the cull kill. What do we expect? No changes. The male market is in balance and the cows need the correction in the abattoir prices for February before for a new direction.