Market Report 31.05.2024

What happened this week

This week we will only be able to deliver one of the shorter editions of our market report. Overall, even less happened than we have already experienced and been able to report in recent weeks. The weeks are actually more and more following certain recurring stereotypes. All we can say from China is that there is no real physical demand for raw materials at the moment, which is why people are less concerned with the question of whether they can actually buy goods and more with how cheap they might be. This means that you can’t see a complete standstill in demand, but basically it doesn’t give the impression that people really intend to buy hides unless they are extremely cheap. We call this fishing in the doldrums, which means that it is less important what you catch, but rather that you catch something. However, it doesn’t give the impression that this is very successful at the moment and therefore not a lot of fish are caught on the line or in the net. If there is actually serious interest, it is usually higher quality raw materials and then also very clearly defined specifications. These are usually somewhat heavier hides of better quality. However, it is also true here that the asking prices are far from being realised and you then really only have to decide at what level you are prepared to sell hides. With the standard types, and here it is the normal cowhides and low grades, the bids you receive are not really to be considered serious. As long as you don’t have to sell and you are still relatively relaxed about the matter, but you can foresee that you would like to ship goods in the near future, the decision should be relatively difficult. It is not foreseeable that the balance of power between buyers and sellers in northern China will improve in the near future. For the rest of the market, we are still waiting to see how things develop and, above all, what prices can be expected at the abattoirs in the coming months. This will not change the sales conditions much, but it will certainly change the calculation, the need to provide storage space and, of course, the expectations for prices for the coming months. Some form of agreement must and will have to be reached with regular customers for fresh, chilled hides in Europe, as there is no real alternative until the summer holidays. However, if there is hope that people are waiting for an improvement, then this will certainly require a relatively high level of optimism. All in all, things were relatively quiet in Europe this week, then Thursday we had another public holiday for large parts and that meant that there was very little presence on Friday as well.