The workshop was opened by Francis Nhema, Minister for the Environment and Tourism. He thanked the Swiss government, which is financing Unido sponsored environmental projects, and Unido and Esalia for organising the event.

Linta, in partnership with Fratelli Carlessi, were showing their new splitting machine which comes in four versions and five working widths. There are four models, one each for splitting in the lime, pickle, wet-blue and dry conditions. The working widths are: 1500, 1800, 2400, 3000 and 3200mm.

A new system of hide processing developed by the Northern Cooperative Meat Company (NCMC) at their Casino tannery, could deliver premium hides to operators who process stock through their plant. The system allows each hide which passes through the tanning division, Casino Hide Traders (CHT), to be matched to the carcase and the source. A comprehensive recording scheme tracks each hide's performance, quality and yield, allowing graded payments to each supplier/producer. The NCMC system has appealed to Hereford Prime who asked CHT's marketing manager Ian Scher to explain.

the market steadied during November as tanners and hide markets tried to get a feel for the direction that the market might go in the New Year.

In mid-november, the rally in steer prices seemed to come to a halt. And by the end of the latest four week period, prices had plunged, with Texas, branded and Colorado steers the weakest items. Heavy native steers, butts and dairies also declined sharply.

As Ramadan gets closer, beef cattle, lamb and sheep prices have shot up in Saudi Arabia as much as 40%, a proprietor of a local tannery told Leather International.

The problem

Very prominent blood vessels in leather are not only unsightly but can also present some physical problems; they can sometimes present an area of weakness along which the leather constantly flexes, giving rise to irregular deep creases instead of a uniform small break.

John Keats wrote: 'A thing of beauty is a joy for ever: its loveliness increases; it will never pass into nothingness.' While leather may be a 'thing of beauty', unfortunately, in the current climate of environmental control, 'never passing into nothingness' is not an ideal situation. And one of the major concerns is the amount of chrome tanners put into the environment.

Flamar Tomboni launched their new Maxima series of throughfeed sammying machines at Tanning Tech. The new machine has been fitted with a patented spreading roller to improve the spreading action during sammying, particularly along the flanks of hides or sides. The spreading action leaves the leather suitably prepared for setting out, splitting or shaving with increased area yield and without causing looseness.

Italian tannery equipment manufacturers, Infragas Nova Impianti, are offering customers tailor-made spray finishing cabinets. The Linear 2200 unit can be built on request to a number of working widths including 1.8, 2.2, 2.6, 3.0 and 3.4m sizes depending on application.

German tannery machinery manufacturers, BIMA Maschinenfabrik, have introduced a leather inspection table. The leather is stretched over the table using jets of compressed air, which can be adjusted.

Flamar Tomboni have fitted a series of discs to the rear of their SGN 3.2 buffing machine. The new layout has been added to the exit conveyor on the machine to help flatten and spread the leather ready for the next operation. The machine also features two rotating brushes, which remove excess dust after buffing

Supercoat 3400 has just been launched by Incoma. Designed for manufacturers of soft leathers, particularly garment or automotive and furniture upholstery, Supercoat 3400, has both reverse and syncro operations.

Thema have patented a new throughfeed drying tunnel which takes advantage of infra-red radiation to reduce the moisture content of hides and skins. Dry Tunnel TH009 was introduced by the Italian conveyor and stacking specialists at Tanning Tech.

Krause & Hücker have developed a ten-figure hide and skin stamping device. Print 2 is an updated version of the company's five digit machine, which is already on the market. The German manufacturers claim to be the first to develop a ten-digit machine, which can be used on raw, tanned, crust and finished leather.

Black Roll is a new rollercoating cylinder from Italian finishing equipment specialists, Rollmac. The black coloured reinforced steel roller has a very hard surface, which provides double the working life of a conventional rollercoater cylinder.

Superstar is a new rotary ironing and embossing press from Bergi OFB. The machine can be fitted with up to three rollers on a built in carousel. The machine is available in a number of different sizes.

Designed to save space or be fitted into tanneries where space is premium, Vallero International have devised the Compact Drum. The manufacturers claim that the wooden drum (2 x 2m drum diameter) can save up to a metre on each dimension, making it fit into awkward areas inside tanneries.

Cartigliano have been a leading manufacturer of vacuum driers for a number of years. This year, they have included an extra surface effect to their drying table on the New Turbo Vacuum Dryer machine. Their New Turbo machine is capable of drying leathers in a short time at low temperatures.

Designed for hot and cold fatliquoring of furniture and automotive upholstery leathers, GeMaTa's new Jumbo Universal rollercoating machine was introduced to the tanning industry at Tanning Tech.

System Mix is a water management system developed and highlighted by Spanish machinery specialists, Olcina. The technology enables the tanner to accurately monitor water mixing, batching and dosing. Series addition of water to a number of pieces of equipment can be executed either sequentially or simultaneously using the Olcina apparatus.

Last year, Italian leather chemical manufacturers Biokimica SpA took a step forward in the development and creation of a number of new products. This has been aided by the completion of a new laboratory covering an area of about 750 square meters in the Santa Croce Sull' Arno tanning region in Italy.

Spanish leather chemical manufacturer, Pielcolor, have produced several new leather finishing products including two thermo sensitive colours, two crosslinking top coats and ten amphoteric pigments. The details of each are as follows:

Dr Eberle have introduced several new beamhouse chemicals aimed at producing higher performance leathers with a lower environmental impact. All the chemicals are produced according to German law, so the end-user can be sure that the products are applicable to the highest international standards.

Cognis launched six new leather chemical products during the Tanning Tech fair. They include a retanning agent, a drying compound, two fatliquors and two soaking agents.

Langro-Chemie's new UV-leather finishing process provides top quality leather with superb malleability and a first class finish, while at the same time significantly enhancing the durability, strength and longevity of the leather.

German chemical makers, Dr Th Böhme KG, highlighted a number of post tanning products at Tanning Tech. They included the following:

The leather chemical division of the Italian company, Lamberti Group SpA, introduced a number of new finishing compounds and waxes at the Tanning tech exhibition in Bologna. The company have developed two new waxes, a binder and two new top coats. The new products are as follows:

Chandal, the joint venture between Gruppo Chimico Dalton from Italy and Chun Chang Plastics of Taiwan, highlighted a new basic chromium sulfate product at Tanning Tech. Cromeco I 33 Extra is a basic chromium sulfate powder which is soluble in cold water.

Italian leather chemical specialists, ALPA, launched several innovations at the Tanning Tech show. This year, the company have invested heavily in new product development, culminating in the launch of over 40 new products. The new pro-active strategy is aimed at putting ALPA's range of leather chemicals, particularly finishing products, closer to the high fashion and upholstery markets. A fashion show by the designer Mario Valentino featuring ALPA leathers was shown during Tanning Tech.

Curtin have a number of new products aimed at the early stages of leather making. Many have been developed in order to reduce the environmental load from the tanner and advance cleaner processing. The innovations are as follows:

The workshop was opened by Francis Nhema, Minister for the Environment and Tourism. He thanked the Swiss government, which is financing Unido sponsored environmental projects, and Unido and Esalia for organising the event.

It is now almost three years that Limeblast has appeared in Leather International, and I have been commenting a lot on the honesty of people in our trade and on market situations, things that seem to me closely connected, because I firmly believe that when the market is stable, the honesty level in our trade rises, and suddenly and sharply declines when the market collapses, or when the market peaks. It all depends on whether you are the hunted or the hunter of the moment.

The Dong Nai Biti's Co Ltd, Saigon, have become the first domestic producer to receive ISO 9001 certification. The company have so far earned an export turnover of US$980,000 this year, up 15% over the same period last year.

Africaleather.com is the official website for Eastern and Southern Africa Leather Industries Association (ESALIA). The site was developed to assist companies in the ESALIA region to penetrate the global market. This site is already linked to other major leather sites such as LponLine and further links will be established with other international organisations such as ITC and Unido.

'The UK leather tanning sector is strong in innovation but productivity and investment are relatively weak', says the report

Arlei Leather Group have successfully passed the audit to certify the ISO 14000 environmental standard of quality. They say they are proud to be one of the first tanneries in South America to have 'achieved such an important goal, related to care for the environment for our generation and those ahead of us. Again, this is just one more step of many we are taking to satisfy our customers' needs.'

UK tanners Connolly have announced the liquidation of their US joint venture in December. The US joint venture was established five years ago as an attempt to move into the mass market. But contracts from mass-market car seat makers were unprofitable.

The country's leather industry could lose up to 70% of its workforce if the dumping of south east Asian shoes and the falsification of invoices for imported leathergoods continues, industrialists have warned.

Calçados Azaléia, Brazil's leading manufacturer of women's shoes and among the world's top five, have acquired an 85% share of Moditalia Praha, a local distributor for the company located in the Czech Republic. The price of the deal was not disclosed.

Lederfabriek P Driesen, Dutch vegetable tanners, are moving from their town centre location in Dongen to share premises with chrome tanners Lederfabriek Termeer. Driesen's managing director Gerard Driesen told Leather International that the two tanning companies would maintain their own productions. Driesen will also act as technical director for Termeer.

The municipal authorities in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam have called on local leather industry companies to establish a leather industry industrial park, train skilled employees in the footwear industry and develop a livestock base in order to secure supplies of hides, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Avecia say they are in talks to sell leather chemicals business Stahl to US private equity capital firm Investcorp. Investcorp own 50% of Avecia, and private equity capital firm in London, Cinven, hold the remaining shares. Avecia will use most of the proceeds of the sale to reduce their debt.

The South African automotive leather industry is in decline as car makers shift their leather sourcing to other countries, with serious ramifications for the entire leather industry in the country.

Vietnam's Ministry of Industry has ordered the Vietnam Leather and Footwear Corporation to convert their nine enterprises into shareholding companies by the end of 2004, according to the Vietnam News Agency.

Consumer giants Hindustan Lever (HLL) are reported to be considering ending several of their operations, including leather, in an effort to streamline their product portfolio.

Identifying the leather sector as a major growth engine, the Andhra Pradesh government has announced a plan which could involve the creation of mega leather parks and help the state profit from an increase in processed leather in the country.

Johanna De Paredes, International Trade Centre, Geneva, headed up a press conference for the Meet in Africa event which is next due to be held in Tunis in October 2002. It was held during Tanning Tech in Bologna in a room provided by Assomac and was organised by the SIC Group.

Tanwell International Pty Ltd, the new company started by Alan Hopkins who is known for his former role representing the Australian Fellmongers Association, have an IT/e-commerce arm which specialises in web design and hosting and developing e-commerce systems.

The bankruptcy administrator of the Kozeluzna Litomerice leather producer in the Czech Republic has said that claims worth Kc75 million (US$1 = Kc37) have been lodged against the company, according to the CTK news agency's Business News. Kozeluzna Litomerice was declared bankrupt last April.

Leathergoods companies in Pakistan have formed their own association to safeguard their interests. The Pakistan Leather Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association, with Fawad Ijaz Khan as chairman, say they are facing huge problems with no repeat orders during October and November, normally the main months for new bookings.

Only in Venezuela did footwear association Cavenic manage to have an import duty of up to 300% applied to shoes manufactured in mainland China, but this measure did not cover shoes from other south east Asian countries and as contraband, the shoes simply 'walked' into the local market place.

Gucci say they will boycott Indian leather until the Government of India enforces basic animal protection laws.

Prime Tanning have announced their intention to reopen their local plant in Berwick to meet the need for more military footwear in the wake of the September 11 terrorist attacks. Around 150 people will be working two shifts to produce leather the Pentagon needs for combat boots for reservists, active-duty personnel and National Guard troops being deployed as part of the country's campaign against terrorism. The Rochester plant will remain closed. 'The decision to close had to be made', said president Ken Purdy. 'If there hadn't been a tragedy, we'd still be closed.'

Leather furniture manufacturers Industrie Natuzzi have opened a plant in Salvador de Bahia, Brazil, according to PR Newswire.

Meat processors Iowa Beef Packers Inc (IBP) have settled a lawsuit brought against the company by the Department of Justice on behalf of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The settlement will cost IBP more than $14 million in penalties and renovations to their facilities.

A READER IN ITALY phoned recently to rap me over the knuckles for being too negative in my recent comments. As the company he works for tans and sells a wide range of leathers, he wanted to point out that despite the problems in Japan and the USA, Europe was holding up pretty well as a market place.

A little ahead of schedule, Karl Toosbuy arrived in Dongen in early December to open the new Ecco Leather offices and for the 'topping out' of the research and development centre. Originally planned for mid January, the offices were complete but work still continues on the ambitious research and development centre which includes a pilot tannery.