Tanning Tech is missed

Normally at this time of year, we would just have arrived back from Tanning Tech in Bologna, Italy. News from the recent edition of Lineapelle suggests that visitor numbers were well down from last October. One visitor writes: 'If you were there, you'd have seen a Tuesday morning with empty halls. Wednesday saw a reasonable amount of visitors but far below last year's figures. Nevertheless this is still a hugely important fair.' The postponement of the Tanning Tech show has had a significant impact. The greatest irony is that Tanning Tech is now scheduled to ally itself with the spring Lineapelle next April whereas traditionally the autumn show is the more important in leather industry terms. Lineapelle's roots lie in the footwear industry which is seasonal but the other industries served by leather are very much less reliant on the seasons. Lightweight materials of all kinds are preferred for spring and summer. The general consensus is that Lineapelle provided quality rather than quantity at this latest edition. One visual highlight worth mentioning was that staged by Dolmen with a spectacular display of metallic reptile leathers. In all, there were six halls featuring tanners. The majority, as always, came from Italy but there were significant numbers of companies from other parts of Europe, in particular from Spain. Each year, we flag up the November edition as our raw materials edition where we attempt to bring readers an idea of what is going on around the world. This year, we take Africa as our focus but we have also included a technical article on the control of halobacterial damage on brine cured hides with halocin. We are also running the third in a series of articles on the damage caused by parasites; this month the topic is ticks. There is still much to be said about the latest round of regulations being directed at Chinese imports of raw and wet-blue hides. While matters are still far from clear and straightforward, the belief is that raw hides will be phased out in the longer term in favour of wet-blue. However, for the time being, China remains the biggest importer of US raw hides, wet-blues and wet-blue splits. There is also a global struggle over the high price of raw hides. Abattoirs, meat packers and traders are doing their utmost to keep prices up, while the major brands and retailers are refusing to accept higher leather prices. And the poor tanner continues to be squeezed in the middle. A secondary theme in this edition of Leather International is upholstery leather and for this we include articles by CTC on the performance of leather finishes after ageing as well as research comparing flammability rates for leather and synthetic leather where leather proves to be a much safer bet. So there is some good news for tanners! Last month, I mentioned the media day held by LANXESS at Leverkusen and this month we feature the thinking behind their remarkable financial recovery and bring you pictures of the event. On a sadder note, we are also including an obituary notice for a former member of staff, Martin Swayne, who I am sure will be remembered by the more mature of our readers. Martin worked for us during the late 70s and early 80s before leaving the leather industry for pulp and paper. Shelagh Davy