Market Report 19.09.2025

What happened this week

Over the course of this week, there has been a growing sense that we can slowly return to normal market activity for this time of year. For weeks, if not months, our market has been largely paralysed and trapped in the minimal demands of the local European leather industry. The usual summer holidays added to this, leading to an almost complete standstill in active, dynamic trading. This phase is usually offset in Europe by activity in Asia, because the long delivery times there mean that decisions regarding the supply of raw materials for the winter half-year have to be made earlier. Many factors weighed on the market for overseas exports as well this summer. In addition to the general geopolitical uncertainty, there was also the decline of the US dollar and the constant stream of new reports on American customs policy. In our case, at least, this led to potential buyers having almost stereotypical price expectations that were notoriously far below the asking prices and possible compromises. So anyone who could not or would not accept these price ideas had to forego export business for a longer period of time. In the meantime, Asian customers seem now to be realising that, at least for a certain period of time, prices have bottomed out and that all possible cheap opportunities in the market have now been exhausted. As a result, price expectations are slowly adjusting to the possibilities of sale. This does not make the overall market situation significantly better, but at least it is slowly breaking the paralysis in overseas business. A possible solution to the trade conflict with the USA is obviously playing an important role here, in addition to the fact that Chinese companies are expecting further support for consumption from their government. In Europe, however, the situation continues to look somewhat different. The burdens of the strong euro, rising costs and shifts in demand are continuing to leave their mark, in addition to weakening consumption. Although we have often pointed out the overvaluation of particularly expensive, heavy hides, was not reflected in the market due to low slaughtering rates in the summer. With the decline in demand, especially from the automotive industry, and the simultaneous decline in premiums for top qualities, the overall calculation for these goods is also shifting. This topic is likely to dominate discussions in Europe in the coming weeks. In this respect, the market in Europe remained in a state of anticipation this week ahead of next week’s trade fair in Milan. In summary, it can be said that there was significantly more activity from Asia this week and, if desired, there were various opportunities to sell cow hides, provided that buyers were willing to approach workable price levels.