The US Department of Agriculture have reported that Russia's livestock sector is beginning to recover, thanks partly to the emergence of investment and management companies in the sector. The number of livestock farms operating at a loss in Russia last year was 45% of the total, compared with 53% in 2000.

Hide prices continued to rise slowly throughout March due to comparatively low kills, much to the disappointment of tanners the length and breadth of Europe.

China's General Administration of Customs has reported that China imported 648,859 tonnes of oxhide leather in 2001, a rise of 7.7% compared with the previous year, according to the Xinhua news agency.

The Dam keeping major packers, traders and tanners apart finally burst towards the end of March. After more than two weeks of minimal volumes, large quantities of heavy Texas and branded steers changed hands at prices nearly 5% below the highs reached at the beginning of March.

Microbial degradation of animal hides and skins begins immediately after slaughter when the degradable enzymes that are naturally present in live animals remain active on the slaughtered hides. Micro-organisms from air, water and sea salt will also affect the hide quality.

In previous studies1-6, a collagen condensate tanned with formaldehyde shows a consistent tanning action. The Ts of the tanned samples was 94-96°C, which is a good value for a non-chrome tanning salt. The values can be further improved by pretanning with condensed tannins or a resourcin pretreatment⁵.

Italian finishing equipment specialists, Rollmac, have designed a complete line which can be used to upgrade crusted

Virtually all the major tannery machinery manufacturers and a list of 500 tanners are included on the Mattei Guido e Figli customer database. As Mattei only produce felts for the tanning industry, they are able to concentrate their efforts on the particular requirements of the tanner. For example, they have been working very closely with wet-blue tanneries that process zebu cattle hides.

Feltre have designed an automated machine which is able to palletise wet-blue hides pre-weighed, area measured, ID stamped and sorted into grades. Graded hides can then be shipped directly to the customer or transferred within the tannery to the next operation. Feltre specialise in making labour saving, tailor made machinery suited to individual customers.

Modena is a famous engineering town located in the central northern part of Italy close to Bologna. It is home to automotive thoroughbred Ferrari and countless other precision engineering based companies. Rizzi 1857 have been associated with the town for 145 years at their site in the centre of the town.

Mosconi are not a company which have an extensive range of tannery machinery. They only produce four pieces of tannery equipment for fleshing, splitting and shaving operations. Instead of selling a diverse range, they have concentrated on prescision engineered equipment and spare parts. They are regarded by many tanners as producing the 'Rolls Royce' of beamhouse tannery equipment. Their most successful model is their Super Zenit splitter, a machine that has slowly evolved over the 56-year history of the company.

Since their sales agreement with the Poletto Group was terminated at the end of last year, Italian tannery machinery makers Ge.ma.ta SpA, have reorganised the business in order to re-position themselves for the future. It is understood that Dr Mauricio Biasi, the majority shareholder of the company, will give up all or part of his holding in the company to new shareholders.

Italian-made leather and leather products continue to be the major force they have always been on the global stage. Although countries such as China and Brazil have become huge suppliers of leather products, they still cannot compete with the Italians in terms of fashion, innovation and value added products. Italian-made leather represents virtually a third of all leather sold in terms of value (Table 10) and two thirds of all leather produced in Europe is from Italy (Table 8).

That is the thing we love when it puts us ahead of those who perform the same job as we do, and it's what we fear when the others do that job better than we do. In order to compete we are prepared to go to great lengths even to the point of compromising our own national economy, or let us say part of that economy.

HTL International Holdings Limited, one of Asia's largest leather tanners and sofa manufacturers, are to build their second wet-blue facility, this time in Yangzhou, China (see Leather International April).

The Mardig Zarbhanelian Sons tannery in Alexandria has closed at the end of January following bankruptcy. The Egyptian/Armenian owner was forced to close the business following financial difficulties and labour problems. According to an Egyptian leather industry source, the vegetable leather tanners were reported to have debts of around US$300,000.

The Shoe Fashion Group have opened their first plant in Bardejov, Slovakia. Staff capacity is now 70 and is expected to rise to 500. The owners hope to manufacture 5,000 pairs a day.

LeatherXchange, the service provider to the global leather industry, have announced that they have broadened their LX Information Services to ensure that their clients have the most relevant and timely market intelligence and trends.

Despite connecting their facilities to individual or common effluent treatment plants, the tanners of Vellore were unable to meet the TDS (total dissolved solids) of 2,100 parts per million prescribed by the Tamil Nadu Pollution Control Board.

The municipal Department of Industry (DoI) has drawn up three major plans to help the local footwear and leather industry achieve annual growth of 15% until 2005, according to DoI deputy director Nguyen Thanh Lap.

Irving Tanning have announced an agreement with their lenders which represents a major step toward Irving's emergence from Chapter 11. Under this agreement, Irving Tanning will have access to a new and larger revolving credit facility and will substantially reduce their debt.

A measure of how much business was or was not done at the APLF in Hong Kong depended very much on whom you were talking to. There is no doubt that there were a number of happy exhibitors who not only saw existing customers but also welcomed new and potential customers to their stand. Nigel Dobson of Astley Leathers, New Zealand, said: 'It is probably the best fair we have experienced since we started.'

The German Leather Federation have issued a cautious overview of the domestic tanning and footwear sectors following a difficult 2001. The German economy is almost in recession with an annual growth of 0.6% last year. Expectations for this year run from 0.7-0.9% and 1.5% in 2003. 2001 was a particularly poor year for plant, equipment and construction investment and the present situation in the German labour market is alarming as unemployment continues to rise.

Freudenberg, Germany, have decided to close their leather division at the end of September but will continue to meet their orders until that time. The company had previously closed their beamhouse in Germany and were having their hides wet-blued under contract in Poland.

The Elmo Leather Group have reported a 12% increase in group sales during 2001 to reach SEK985 million (US$95 million). Operating losses were SEK108 million (US$10 million). The main reasons for the decline are the restructuring costs incurred in shutting down production in the US, escalating raw hide prices and lower sales volumes in north America.

A federal judge has approved $15 million in loans for Future Beef Operations (FBO), which filed for bankruptcy in March. The US Bankruptcy Court in Denver has approved the loans. (See April 2002, Leather International).

Italian leather machinery manufacturers, P Mostardini & Figli SpA, are understood to be putting together a package which will see them become independent once again. Mostardini were part of the troubled Poletto Group and are anticipated to return as an autonomous company in a similar way to Ge.ma.ta.

The American Leather Chemist's (ALCA) 98th annual meeting this June, 20-23, will adopt a new format. The full technical programme has been condensed into two consecutive days starting on Friday June 21.

A group of Italian tanners and related companies such as shoe producers and a technical institute have come together to form a consortium under the name Solofra Leather System. Its purpose is to have a group of non-competing companies which can be stronger - and offer a better service - through undertaking activities such as promotion, research, development and purchasing on a joint basis.

A new co-operative to use the expertise and capacity of small Brazilian tanners to gain more export business has been formed under the name Cooperleather. The concept was initiated in the leathermaking locality of São Sebastiao do Paraizo in the Minas Gerais state of Brazil last year and was purely for the benefit of the local community.

Privately-owned Hiep Hung Footwear Company have signed a contract worth US$29 million with an American partner to export high-class boots to the US. The deal will be finalised within this year, company director Nguyen Kao Tuong said.

The Kenyan tanning industry has witnessed a decline in recent years along with the local leather manufacturing industry. Following the recent closure of LIK plant (Leather Industries of Kenya), the only substantial finished leather tannery remaining is the Bata Tannery and the only major wet-blue tannery is Bulleys.

TFL held their traditional Hong Kong leather event, April 11. This year's event had an Italian theme. The event highlighted a range of varying types of leather featuring TFL's wet-end and finishing products. The event took place in the ballroom of the Grand Hyatt hotel. Following the technical presentations, invited tanners enjoyed Italian food.

Sadesa's water treatment plant in Esperanza, Santa Fe province has been certified to ISO 14001 by TÜV Rheinland of Argentina. The certification guarantees that the plant has an Environmental Management System assuring the correct handling of industrial effluent treatment and final disposal of solid waste, complying with current environmental legislation.

Richina Pacific are shifting their focus to their Chinese tanning operations after turning in a net operating deficit of $15.3 million last year.

To protect local industry, the government of Saudi Arabia has imposed a 12% import tax on all types of goat leather, from raw to finished, reptile leathers, leather from other animal origins and leather briefcases.

Bulgaria's Foreign Investment Agency has reported that direct foreign investment in the Bulgarian leather industry totalled US$200,000 in 2001, compared with US$21.2 million in 2000. Investment in the leather industry accounted for a negligible 0.01% of total direct foreign investment in Bulgaria last year.

Shoe exports from Valencia, said to be the heart and sole of the Spanish footwear industry, climbed by just over 3% to Euro1.4 billion (US$1.2 billion) in the first eleven months of last year, the Valencian Export Insitute (IVEX) is reported to have said on the website [http://www.just-style.com]

The next IULTCS Congress (XXVII) will be held in Cancun, Mexico, from May 28 to June 1, 2003. These biennial congresses are undoubtedly the leather industry's most important technical meetings.

I have been hearing a lot about price points recently. At the annual meeting of the International Council of Tanners, Andy Seaward, the chief leather specifier for Clarks International, told delegates that to meet their price points they would pay up to $2.60 for men's weight leather per sq ft, $2.20 for women's and $1.95 for children's.

The SIC Group, whose objective is to promote the leather industry in France and abroad, is organising a two-day convention to bring together the suppliers of raw hides and skins in eastern and central Europe (including the Baltic and Balkans) with buyers from western Europe. The Leather Link convention will take place in Flamenco Park Hotel, Budapest, Hungary, June 21-22, 2002.

Connolly Leather have called in administrative receivers amid mounting losses and pricing pressures in the global car industry. The family controlled company, founded in 1878, have appointed KPMG to seek possible bidders for the business, whose products range from Rolls Royce interiors to parliamentary benches in the British Houses of Parliament.&rtreturn;The move follows more than 10 years of losses at Connolly, who employ 165 people at two plants in Ashford, Kent, and Northampton.&rtreturn;Customers who include Bentley and Jaguar said they were monitoring the situation and seeking assurances for continued supplies.&rtreturn;Bentley, a Connolly client since 1904, said they acquired 40,000 hides a year from the company. &rtreturn;'We believe the banks have agreed to continue to support the business but we have an alternative supplier lined up if it fails', said a company spokesperson.&rtreturn;Aston Martin said it had already switched to alternative leather companies and Ferrari and Morgan have also moved sourcing elsewhere.&rtreturn;Richard Heis, joint receiver at KPMG Corporate Recovery, said: 'We propose to continue to trade normally while marketing the business with a view to a going concern sale.' Heis blamed the difficulties partly on pricing pressures affecting British component suppliers and volatile demand in the US following the September 11 terrorist atrocities.&rtreturn;The receivership follows the failure of Connolly's expansion in the US, where liquidation proceedings began in December over the collapse of a north American joint venture set up to serve mass market seat suppliers. (See January Leather International.)&rtreturn;The company has warned that the consolidation of the global car industry posed an additional threat, with carmakers such as Ford or Volkswagen applying tougher purchasing criteria to subsidiaries such as Jaguar and Bentley.&rtreturn;In 2000, the last year for which figures are available, Connolly made an operating loss of £6.7 million (US$9.6 million) on sales of £29.6million (US$42.3 million), compared with a deficit of £1.1 million (US$1.6 million) in 1999.