Market Report 17.04.2026

What happened this week

Another week has come and gone; to be honest, it was yet another of those weeks characterised by a wait-and-see approach. Why is that? Naturally, the geopolitical situation played a major role right up until Friday afternoon. As a commercial enterprise, it is almost impossible these days to make any sound decisions; frankly, we find ourselves thinking on a day-to-day basis, because, given the many influencing factors, it is hardly possible to make sensible decisions. This Friday afternoon, the decision was made that the Strait of Hormuz will remain open to commercial shipping for as long as the ceasefire between Lebanon and Israel holds. The usual reaction followed. A huge sigh of relief, sharply falling oil prices and a correspondingly sharp rise in the stock markets. If this were indeed to be the first step towards a solution and an end to the conflict in the region, that would be wonderful, but we have all learnt that, at the moment, there is very little to rely on when it comes to the political situation, which changes on a daily basis. Let us simply assume that, come Monday, things will still be as they appear this afternoon; this will, of course, also have a positive impact on our markets. For anyone who has been planning on a very short-term basis recently could find themselves in a situation where they do not have sufficient supplies of raw materials. However, that is only half the story, for the supply of raw materials alone does not yet translate into new orders for leather or, say, better sales of leather goods. We still have to actually put all of this into practice. What is certain, however, is that alongside the fundamental questions regarding the future of the business, the timing of the decision will be more important than ever. In the absence of major market activity this week, attention has once again turned more strongly to the question of how the structure of the meat industry in Germany will develop. This will open up significant opportunities for far-reaching changes, as everything starts with the original source of the hides, and that is the conventional slaughter industry. Here too, it seems highly likely that decisions will be made in the coming weeks, from which it will then be possible to deduce how the flow of goods might be reorganised or restructured in the near future. This week, too, there remains time to reflect on global politics, as it had very little impact on the market. From Asia came the usual attempts to find sellers at prices well below the asking prices, which presumably met with only very limited success. With this afternoon’s developments, the downward trend in the US dollar also accelerated again, which ultimately does not make calculations any easier for next week either. We saw very few sales this week, and these were concentrated on cowhides destined for China. There was relatively little volume left for sales, simply because the asking prices of interested buyers were not really achievable.