The holiday season is slowly coming to an end and day by day more factories are returning for the second part of the production season of the year. Some companies in Southern Europe are still missing, but with the start of next week they should resume their production and activities. As is so often the case, it always takes some time for everyone to clear their desks, clear up the accumulated and accumulated work and then get back to the normal routine of business. This year it seems that most people are in no great hurry to get back to the business of the rawhide market. There is far too much focus on the problems of increased costs, water shortages, the almost daily deterioration in the consumer markets and the question of how the energy supply in Western Europe will continue over the winter. Of course, one has to deal with raw material procurement and the situation on the market, which does not give the impression that any European tanner is currently worried that he might miss out on something on the market and that some urgently needed raw material might not be available to him in the next few weeks. Even if people in the leather industry are not talking about it yet, the business press as a whole is already discussing the issue of dwindling liquidity due to reduced sales and sharply increased costs. It still affects few, because most still have valid old and valid energy supply contracts. Nevertheless, with each passing week and month, the issue is becoming more and more important. In some sectors, there is already open talk of declining payment morale due to the squeeze. On the business side, at least the activity in communication increased a bit. In short, there were more people wanting to get information and discuss the trend of the commodity market for the next weeks and months. It is noticeable that there is more and more activity from countries that may benefit from the Western sanctions against Russia and their rise in