For the first time in a long time, we can report a week in which there was at least a significantly higher level of activity than we were used to in previous weeks. However, the situation was of very different quality with regard to the various sales markets. While almost everyone in Europe is depressed and worried about the spring and summer months, activity and interest in Asia was much higher this week and one almost had the feeling of the good old days. However, this should not immediately give the impression that the great turnaround in market development has occurred here and that everything that was rather depressed yesterday is now spreading sparkling optimism. From China in particular, it was clear that the WeChat groups were determined to test in Europe this week how far sellers are already willing to make concessions on prices. Especially with cows, they were testing whether the price levels they knew from the Corona summer could possibly be reached again. For cows from Europe, this is the magic mark of US$ 20 per hide and within a range of US$ two, all agents apparently had the task of checking every supplier for his position. In which not that there have been any big deals at the lowest prices, but if the rumours are true, there have been one or two suppliers who have decided to make a few deals. The weak lime split market in China can easily be seen in the fact that at the moment higher weights are not a very big selling point and they

are more focused on the better yields of the lighter goods. All in all, we have the feeling that substantial sales from early 20s up to US$ 25 have been concluded. The situation was much more difficult for the better quality, heavier and therefore more expensive goods. Negotiations sometimes dragged on for the whole week, only to fail in the end. With prices beyond the US$ 30 mark, not very many sales remained in the end. The bottom line is that, on the one hand, there is obviously a certain demand for raw material in China, but that these purchases are not necessarily covered by leather transactions and thus the price is in the foreground. They are obviously looking for the best opportunities to fill production and possibly have a secure starting point for leather price negotiations from the summer onwards. The next few weeks will show whether there is really a sustained demand for raw material or whether they simply wanted to test the sales pressure from suppliers in Europe. In Europe itself, business was extremely quiet. This is not surprising, as everyone is waiting for the new prices at the slaughterhouses for May and only next week will they actually start talking about the price trends for the next month. There is really hardly any enthusiasm to be found anywhere.

The kill

The kill is down again very significantly. The meat business in the supermarkets is simply too bad and we are now at the beginning of the low season in Europe. The relatively low temperatures of the last week did not help what is normally the case. By all accounts, the low slaughter levels will continue to change very little over the next few weeks.

What do we expect

With the sudden awakening in China, the coming and following weeks will certainly be exciting. Low slaughter, weak leather demand, a weak US dollar, very subdued general outlook for the global economy and the approaching summer calm offer something for every view and opinion. The sellers will point emphatically to the low kill and the tanners will point emphatically to the weak leather business. Both sides have good arguments and we therefore assume that prices will not change too much in the short term.