It remains the case that at the moment, things are rather rippling along than developing seriously in one direction or the other. The period after the holidays until the end of September has been characterised almost always by little movement and activity in many years in the past, and we feel the same this year. In 2022, this is perhaps even more pronounced because companies simply have too little secure basis for decision-making and, in addition, the risks and problems have first to be carefully analysed and evaluated. At least in Europe, one has the impression that one had hoped that during the holiday season many things would change for the better. This is not the case, at least in Western Europe, and one has the impression that this also applies at least to China. In addition to political instability, China’s handling of the pandemic and, in Europe, uncertainty about energy prices and also inflation remain so dominant that the necessary confidence in developments in the coming months do simply not emerge. This inevitably means that decisions will be delayed again. This also applies to the hide market. Of course, productions have to be supplied and filled and this certainly happens within the framework of what is absolutely necessary. This reduces business in Europe to the unavoidable minimum quantity. Only occasional random business was added this week, which can hardly be described as representative of the market situation. Perceptions and market opinions already diverged widely in the last few weeks. On the one hand, there were those who wanted to see the low kill for months now as a reference and basis for decisions on price development.