A new website, called [http://www.ostrichresources.comcombines] options such as how to start an ostrich farm through to buying ostrich products. Part of this new ostrich portal is dedicated to trading.

Under the ostrich grading system used by the industry in South Africa, when grading tanned skins, they are first classified according to their size, and then grading from one to five within each of four classes.

The government is considering banning Namibian livestock producers from exporting live cattle, said the Namibian agriculture minister, Helmut Angula, last month.

The Argentine tanners' association (CICA) have said that exports of raw hides grew by 72% last year. As a result, the Argentine Ministry of the Economy immediately increased the export duty from 5 to 10% on bovine green, wet salted, pickled and wet-blue hides. The 5% duty came in to effect last March and is reported to have been a 'legislative error' by Argentine officials.

The cattle population in Australia in 2001 was estimated at 28.8 million head, an increase of about 7% on the previous year. Estimates for 2002 are for a further increase to around 29.4 million head. Cattle slaughter for 2001 was about 7.49 million, slightly down on the previous year. Calf slaughter was about 956,000, also down slightly on 2000.

The country's Central Statistical Office has reported that the producer price of livestock and livestock products in Hungary in the first half of this year was 3.4% lower than in the same period in 2001.

Estonia's Statistical Office has reported that there were 273,200 head of cattle on farms in Estonia as of June 30 this year. In the first half of this year, 43,000 tons liveweight of livestock were slaughtered or sold for slaughter in Estonia, as against 45,000 tons in the same period last year.

Lithuania's Statistics Department has reported that Lithuania exported livestock and livestock products worth 288 million litas (US$1 = 3.8 litas) in the first five months of this year, a 1% fall compared with the same period of 2001. Livestock and livestock products imports were 9.8% lower at 186 million litas.

Tanners started to wind down during mid-July for their holidays. As a result demand for hides dropped and prices for salted hides began to slide backwards.

A substantial number of deals for cattle hides and semi-processed leather products were concluded at the State Commodity and Raw Materials Exchange of Turkmenistan in late June, according to the Turkmen Dowlet Habalar Gullugy news agency. The deals, worth several hundreds of thousands of US dollars, concerned buyers from Russia, Afghanistan, China and the British Virgin Islands.

Romania's National Statistics Institute has reported that the number of cattle in Romania at the end of May this year was 1.8% higher, but the number of sheep and goats was 2.1% lower.

As prices on all selections fell at the end of July, many tanners moved in on the good trading conditions. Following a brisk trade into early August, the prices steadied on most selections except on the branded hides.

LIGHT FLECKS AND SPOTS were described and precisely defined for the first time by Webster & Bugby (1990). These investigators defined light flecks and spots as small areas of grain loss up to 3mm in diameter that are seen on dyed crust bovine leather and associated the damage with the presence of lice. Both biting lice (Damalinia (Bovicola) bovis (Linnaeus 1758)) and sucking lice (Linognathus vituli (Linnaeus 1758)) caused light flecks and spots, but biting lice seemed to be the most important.

In the spirit of understanding and flexibility which is necessary for future dealings between the two sides of the divide, the creator of the Link, Ron Sauer, opened the conference and announced that the first session would be delayed to allow delegates to watch the World Cup match on the television.

Four official methods exist for the analysis of Cr (VI) at the moment. These are DS/EN 420 (1994 for glove leather), DIN 53314 (1996), IUC 18 (1995 but revised 1996) and SLC 22 (identical to IUC 18). The methods are based on the same principle (colourometric analyses using diphenyl carbazide).

Dr Eberle export their products to around 35 countries. But this doesn't stop them looking further afield. 'Step by step, we are looking for new countries where we can either export or produce our chemicals', said Waldemar Schaupp, sales manager of Dr Eberle GmbH.

Over the past three years, Boehme have been investing considerable amounts of money in expanding their production and storage facilities. One of these investments is their new storage farm containing 12 tanks which are divided into chambers, each with the capacity to hold 100 tons of finished leather and textile products, thus increasing short-term product availability for their customers.

Trumpler GmbH are based in Worms on the river Rhine, a town whose connections with the leather industry date back as far as the early 1800s. Since the company were founded in 1868, Trumpler have gradually expanded their facilities on the Rhine. Three years ago, the company extended their pilot tannery to include facilities for running beamhouse trials on matched sides. Before this time, around 3% of the company's products were destined for the domestic market. Since the launch of the company's beamhouse products, that percentage has risen to 5%.

How many leather facilities does Bayer have in China?

We estimate that 15% of the world's sheepskin garment leather is manufactured in Xinji City and we also supply half of the Chinese domestic consumption', says Liu Yunduo, secretary general, Xinji Leather Industrial Association. The city has had a leather making tradition going back 400 years and the archives show that tanning was carried out in the area during the Ming and Qing dynasties.

Since the demand for locally produced leather chemicals in China is far higher than supply, BASF decided to open a manufacturing facility within the country to assist the domestic tanners. BASF now serve more than 350 tanneries in the greater China region and have established a network of national and regional support and distribution centres throughout the country.

In the period January-May 2002, the volume of Chinese footwear produced rose slightly, while in value it fell by 0.2% compared with the same period of 2001 (table 3). Chinese footwear producers are being forced to manufacture with lower margins. The fall in value can be attributed to a number of factors, including the knock-on effect of increased raw materials prices following the BSE and FMD outbreaks in Europe. China also faces increased competition from other low-cost footwear producers such as India, Brazil, Mexico and Vietnam. Lower consumer demand in major export markets such as the USA will also have played a part as consumers look for cheaper deals.

Reading some press clippings I saw that, at the Karachi leather fair, the Pakistan Tanners Association had asked its government to approach the EU requesting a reduction in the import duty levied on finished leathers. The PTA reported a sharp decline in exports to the EU and they blame lack of competitiveness compared with leather exported from India, Bangladesh and Türkiye.

I found your comment in the August edition of Leather International very interesting.

We refer to your July issue and the reference to the traders concern at the location given to them at Lineapelle exhibitions.

The 2002 annual seminar held in Melbourne on June 27 marked the 10th anniversary of a close working relationship between BLC Leather Technology Centre and the Australian and New Zealand tanning sector. Barry Wood, operations director at BLC, was delighted to welcome 70 tanners and associated industry representatives to the seminar and dinner.

Future Beef Operations have not been able to find new financial backing, their Arkansas City packing plant is shut, 900 employees are now out of work and the last of the six founding partners, John Meetz has left the company.

The growth of the All China Leather Exhibition/Moda Shanghai has mirrored the growth of the Chinese leather sector. Nowadays, most of the major joint-venture tanneries are already established and the wave of South Korean, Taiwanese and American companies setting up leather making facilities in China has peaked.

Uyguner Deri Sanayi ve Ticaret AS, Istanbul, is a third-generation family-owned tannery specialising in bovine shoe uppers since 1935. Managing partner, Burak Uyguner, recently announced that they will expand production to include garment and upholstery leathers.

ALPA have signed an agreement to make, distribute and market their products with Shafi Reso Chem (SRC) from Pakistan. ALPA will supply the technology and the know-how and a limited product range will be made by SRC on behalf of ALPA. Products produced in Pakistan by SRC will be sold using the ALPA brand name and trade marks and marketed to tanners in Pakistan, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Jordan, Iraq and Iran.