Market Report 27.06.2025

What happened this week

It is fascinating to observe how little can actually occur in the hide market. If one has been involved for some time, it is challenging to recall a period when something similar has happened. The reasons and causes have been thoroughly considered and reported upon, so there is no need to repeat them here. We are now entering the final weeks before the summer break. Somehow, one gets the impression that not only the leather industry, but almost everyone is taking this opportunity to think only about their summer holidays. Taking advantage of the summer weather to go shopping is obviously not of great interest at the moment, neither online or in brick-and-mortar stores. People are buying what they need, and beyond that, there seems to be little incentive for them to “treat” themselves to anything. Who can blame them, given the current situation in the world? So, at the moment, business is reduced to what needs to be done to keep production going. In addition to leather production in Europe, the production of collagen also plays a significant role in many companies. On the other hand, this also ensures that, at least in the case of raw materials, there is no particularly high market pressure at the moment, taking into account the reduced number of slaughters. This may change again from the end of July until the end of the summer holidays when hides will look for a home in drum, but at the moment, the current slaughter figures do not indicate any particularly large additional quantities coming onto the market. Whether this also applies to all existing salted stocks is something only those who own them will know. The situation may be somewhat different for semi-finished products. It is simply very difficult to imagine that all the stocks that already existed for a while could have been successfully marketed somehow and somewhere in recent months. If one follows the rumours and what is often said, there is frequent talk of quantities and prices that are very difficult to imagine, but which certainly do not paint a positive picture for stocks. However, it is also true that price is obviously playing only a very minor role at the moment. Given the prices we are hearing, in the past hardly anyone would have been able to resist the temptation to buy hides well below production costs. However, if there is no belief that every hide will eventually be successfully turned into leather and sold, then the assessment is likely to change. The result for this week is again relatively clear. Business never stands still, ongoing supply relationships will continue until the summer holidays, and no one is really interested in significantly changing prices at the moment. Certainly not customers for higher prices.