The current exchange rate between the Europe wide currency the Euro against the US dollar was €1.0=US$1.15 on May 14. The Euro was the weaker of the two currencies a year earlier and in May 2002 the exchange rate was €1.1=US$1.0. The European currency has strengthened around 25% against the dollar making European exports less attractive.

The simmering feud between Nike Inc and Foot Locker Inc, Nike's biggest retailer, has taken a new turn. Foot Locker announced in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing on May 12 that it plans to reduce Nike orders in 2003 by US$300 million to US$400 million.

According to the latest Business Ratio Report on the footwear industry, Nike (UK) head the Top Ten list of most profitable companies operating in the UK by pre-tax profit margin for the last complete financial year available, 2001/02.

SATRA's new training course for technologists in the safety products industry has already made a major impact in the United States. The modular programme will give invaluable information to personnel who manufacture or supply Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for the European market and an initial course at the Artech laboratories in Washington on June 2-3 has met with a very encouraging response, says Austin Simmons, assistant director of SATRA.

The spring edition the Lineapelle and Simac shows took place this week (May 6-8) at the Bologna Fiera exhibition centre in Italy.

More than 89,000 BASF employees have received mail from the new chairman of the Board of Executive Directors. The letter was sent out simultaneously in almost 100 countries and in 24 languages, including Chinese, Urdu and Croatian.

The Supervisory Board of BASF Aktiengesellschaft has elected Dr Jürgen F Strube as the new chairman of the Supervisory Board after having been elected to the Board at the Annual Meeting. Robert Oswald, chairman of the works council of BASF Aktiengesellschaft, is the deputy chairman of the Supervisory Board. Professor Berthold Leibinger, the former chairman of the Supervisory Board, who was no longer available for re-election, was appointed honorary chairman of the Supervisory Board.

The Delhi International Leather Fair (DILF) has been postponed from May 22-25 to October 19-22, 2003 due to the outbreak of the SARS virus in Asia. The organising committee has decided to keep this date for all future editions of the fair.

Import and export statistics for the Chinese leather industry during January and February 2003 continue to remain positive according to figures released by the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA).

According to a report seen by Leather International magazine automotive sales for US vehicles continued to fall last month (April). Ford reported a sales decline of 7%, General Motors 9% and Daimler Chrysler 10%. GM said non truck or SUV sales dropped by 22%. It is unknown if the sales declines proportionately affected leather consumption, but it can be assumed that sales of models with leather had to suffer some degree of a downturn.

Rohm and Haas Company's board of directors has elected Carol Eicher a vice president of the company and Jacques M Croisetiere, chief financial officer, both effective May 31, 2003. As previously announced, Croisetiere will succeed Bradley J Bell, Rohm and Haas Company's chief financial officer.

The rise in global footwear production has slowed, growing only marginally after increasing by almost 5% to more than 12 billion pairs in 2000.

Slovakia's Statistical Office reports that the Slovak Republic exported hides and skins, and leather, worth US$31.5 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with US$26.8 million in the same period in 2002. Imports of the same types of commodities were worth US$59.8 million, against US$51.1 billion in the same period last year.

All China Leather Exhibition (ACLE) will be staged alongside Moda Shanghai and the brand new China International Footwear Fair (CIFF) at the new venue Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Pudong, Shanghai, from September 3-5, 2003.

A court in Ostrava in the Czech Republic sent the Savela footwear producer into bankruptcy in late April, according to the CTK news agency's Business News. Savela has not produced any footwear for three years and has only a few employees.

The $20 million rights issue proposed by Rachina Pacific has encountered more problems with two of the shareholders taking legal action to prevent the raising of capital to invest in their Chinese leather business.

Kyrgyzstan's National Statistics Committee reports that the production of leather and leather products in Kyrgyzstan in the first quarter of this year fell by 6.8% compared with the same period last year. In comparison, overall industrial output increased by 7.5% year-on-year.

Tamil Nadu-based tanners are considering relocating their factories to Andhra Pradesh following differences with the State government over pollution norms.

Highest first quarter bottom-line improvement in six years were report by adidas-Salomon with group earnings for the first three months of 2003 up by 19%. Strong growth in Asia and Europe was said to have driven the net sales improvement.

The following submissions have been made for the technical programme at the ALCA convention in June but they may be subject to change.

Max Maerkl will be retiring from Clariant. He will be leaving the office in São Paulo, Brazil, April 30, 2003 after completing 46 years in the leather business (36 of them with Hoechst/Clariant). After successfully completing tannery school in Reutlingen, Germany, between 1957 and 1959, Maerkl spent 7 years working with garment and doubleface leather tanneries in Germany.

Two topics were on everybody's lips at the spring/summer edition of Le Cuir A Paris in April. The war in Iraq and the current political differences between governments on both sides of the Atlantic led exhibitors from the US, Iran and Pakistan to cancel their participation. It seems a shame that political differences appear to be getting in the way of business.

The 27th edition of the Fimec show held in the city of Novo Hamburgo, 45 km from Porto Alegre, the capital of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, closed Sunday April 27. The event this year witnessed a high number of visitors from Argentina and Colombia.

Leather industry production in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam increased by more than 15% in the first four months of this year compared with the same period in 2002, according to the Vietnamese News Agency. This figure was slightly higher than the overall increase in the city's industrial output.

The Ecco Slovakia footwear producer in the Slovak Republic recorded sales worth US$57 million in 2002, a year-on-year increase of US$2.6 million, according to the CTK news agency's Business News.

Having failed to reach any agreement with potential buyers, the receivers for Shepherd Woolskins Australia Ltd are to auction off the premises in Conkey Drive, Cootamundra, NSW, on May 21.

Kazakhstan's State Statistics Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in Kazakhstan in the first quarter of this year was 50% higher than in the same period last year, according to the Interfax news agency. Overall industrial output was 10.4% higher year-on-year.

Two more exhibitions have been rescheduled due to the SARS virus outbreak in China.

UK-based Yarwood Group have announced the following promotions. At Yarwood Leather Ltd, Andrew Young has become managing director, Matthew Nicholls technical director and Finn Robinson national sales manager. Paul Newton has been appointed managing director of Yarwood Cutting and Sewing.

Uzbekcharmpoyabzali (Uzbek Leather and Footwear Industry) produced 8 million pairs of shoes worth US$10.2 million in 2002, according to UzReport. Exports rose by five times when compared with 2001.

Russia's State Statistics Committee reports that Russia produced 10.3 million pairs of footwear in the first quarter of this year, a rise of 9.9% compared with the same period in 2002, according to the Interfax news agency. In comparison, industrial output in Russia rose by 6% year-on-year.

Once it was Green which attracted consumers. Now the chosen word is Pure with the spring/summer 2004 fashion event scheduled for August 17-19, 2003, at The Grand Hall, Olympia, London.

Statistics Norway reports that Norway exported raw hides and skins worth US$27 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with US$35 million in the same period last year.

Hungary's Central Statistical Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in Hungary in the first two months of this year was 25.7% lower than in the same period in 2002. Sales of leather and leather products by Hungarian producers in January and February were 24.1% lower year-on-year, with sales on the domestic market 23.6% lower year-on-year and, on export markets, 24.3% lower.

Brazil's National Statistics Institute reports that a total of 7.8 million units of raw hide were acquired by tanneries in Brazil in the fourth quarter of last year. A total of 7.7 million units of tanned leather were processed. The report noted that because of the inclusion of new tanneries and the exclusion of others that left the business, these fourth quarter 2002 figures cannot be compared with any other quarters.

TFL, the worldwide company exclusively serving the leather industry, continue to build their finishing business with the acquisition of the Quinn group in India (subject to approval by Indian Government and other statutory formalities).

TFL, the worldwide company exclusively serving the leather industry, continue to build up their finishing business with the acquisition of the Quinn group in India.

Stahl Ibérica have recently opened a new technical centre at Ribarroja del Turia, just outside the city of Valencia on Spain's eastern Mediterranean coast. This new investment in technical assistance to customers will provide invaluable support to the important leather industry in this area and will allow a faster response to meeting local customer needs.

Ecco Tannery (Thailand) expect to repeat the 30% growth which they have seen for each of the past three years.

At the opening ceremony of MATECH China, which concluded on April 4, 2003, in Dongguan, China, Michael Duck of APLF Ltd described the fair as 'a direct bridge between international suppliers and the footwear, leathergoods and travelware manufacturing industries in China.'

ABQTIC, the Brazilian Association of Leather Chemists and Technicians, are holding the VI Leather Forum: Tannery 'Fashion Universe Interaction' as a parallel event to Fimec 2003, the 27th International Fair for Machinery and Components for the Leather and Shoe Industry. The meeting will take place on April 26 at the Swan Tower Hotel, Novo Hamburgo (RS), 45 km north of Porto Alegre, capital city of the state.

The international arm of Mexican leather chemical supplier, Stoever, have acquired the formerly named Pioneer Leather Finishing Plant in China. The new organisation has been named Stoever Wuxi China and is located in Wuxi close to Shanghai.

Italian leather chemical specialists, Genesis Ecotec have announced a joint venture with the Mexican finishing chemical group, Merlin. The agreement was announced during the Anpic fair held in León at the end of February.

Vietnam

MIMA have inherited one hundred years of heritage for innovation, quality and reliable services. The group have secured for themselves an 8-10% market share and turnover is in the region of $60 million. The quality system of all three companies which constitute the MIMA Group are ISO-9000 certified.

Woe, woe and thrice woe as we await the possible, and some say probable, war with Iraq. At the time of writing, the signs were that the war would begin some time between the middle and end of March.

Kolosus Holdings Ltd are poised to get their third new owner following an offer by Daun et Cie AG to buy a 90.76% share in the group.

Creekstone Farms Premium Beef were planning to reopen the former Future Beef plant in March, initially with 500 workers to replace the original 900. Although the plant has a designed capacity of 1,650 head/day, Creekstone will begin with 1,000.

The four-week period ending March 3 was one of change in the US hide market. At the beginning of February, packers were able to continue pushing prices up as South Korean tanners and traders offered higher and higher bids for heavy Texas steers.

Meat packers and cattle industry pundits were correct in predicting lower slaughter during February and into March but hide prognosticators, calculating that lower supply should push prices higher, could not have been more wrong.

Leather International provides a worldwide selection of raw materials prices for the leather industry. Although we update these on a regular basis, they are only intended as a guide since market fluctuations occur constantly.

S B Foot Tanning Company, a subsidiary of Red Wing Boot Company, have decided to close their tannery in Cactus, Texas, due to environmental constrictions.

SATRASure, a revolutionary new care package for SATRA's test equipment customers, is being launched at the Asia Pacific Leather Fair in Hong Kong in June.

Innova Ltd produce plants with semi-permeable membranes for reverse osmosis, nanofiltration, ultra and microfiltration. The main uses are:

Almost two years ago I announced my collaboration with the International Trade Centre in Geneva for the development of an all encompassing leather website. We, my ITC supervising officer and myself, started off with a huge amount of enthusiasm hoping to be able to launch a first framework website in September 2001.

I have just read Sam Setter's Limeblast in your March 2003 issue in which Sam calls for the West to unite and promote a total block on imports of raw and wet-blue materials from the CIS countries.

It is with considerable concern that we have read the article: Animal rights protestors target Adidas. It is definitely not a commentary but literally a promotion of campaign detail that is on the Viva website.

TFL, the international leather chemical company, have continued to build-up their finishing business with the acquisition of the Quinn group in India.

Tanac, the Brazilian mimosa extract manufacturer, have appointed Quimicos Curticalza as their new agents and distributors in Mexico. The deal was finalised prior to the Anpic fair held in late February. Left to right: Eduardo Valencia, Tanac Panama, Paulo Costa, Tanac Brazil, Osmar Graff, Tanac Brazil, Enio Medina, Tanac Brazil with new agents Juan Carlos Vargas and Marco Villegas from Quimicos Curticalza on the Tanac stand at Anpic.

CMP Princeton, organisers of Source International (Si) have decided to suspend operations of the fair until further notice.

John M P Kaufmann died in February, after a long battle with cancer. He was at his home in France and his body was flown back to Hong Kong for the funeral on February 26.

One of Türkiye's oldest leather accessory manufacturers, MEB Deri are one of only two or three small leathergoods makers who tan their own cow and calf hides from the raw state.

In January, Jakov Buljan retired after nearly 20 years with the United Nations Development Organization (Unido) in which he occupied the post of senior industrial development officer, Leather and Leather Products Unit and, lately, of deputy to the director, Agro-industries and Sectoral Support Branch.

Egbert Dikkers is the new manager of the Leather Department at Smit & Zoon.

Described by many in the industry as an 'open secret', the proposed merger of Italian leather chemical manufacturers SilvaTeam and Gruppo Biokimica looks close to completion. Although the agreement and announcement has not been officially finalised, it is known that both parties are keen to conclude the deal once the legal formalities have been completed.

In 2002, PETA sent out an unsolicited mailing for donations from £5-£75 along with publicity consisting mainly of distortion and untruth.

Uncertainty and war fears have delayed the opening of a new production facility for Istanbul-based Organik Kimya San ve Tic AS. As well as investing in a new trans-shipment plant in Rotterdam, Organik concurrently are adding a further 35,000-ton capacity to their Istanbul factory.

Crest Leather, the UK-based finished upholstery leather company and part of the East Hides Group, have bought the former Valdapone tannery in Vestenanova, Arzignano, from the Italian Leather Group.

There was outright condemnation of Jacques Chirac, the French President, for inviting, meeting and shaking hands with Zimbabwe's Robert Mugabe. Where do we stop and say: 'No more'. Presumably, France believed it was in the interests of the Zimbabwean people to engage in dialogue with Zimbabwe's leader rather than to ignore him. It is a difficult call.

Zschimmer & Schwarz will again have their own stand at APLF and will concentrate mainly on working methods for shoe upper, clothing and upholstery leather.

The following new products will be launched by Trumpler at APLF in June.

Supertan XL from Tanac is a highly modified Mimosa extract in order to achieve and enhance similar properties of the wide group of different condensed tannins. It has a high tannin content (minimum 77.5% on dry-basis - filter method) and gives a natural brownish colour to the leather. Ideal for producing of veg tanned vachettas and semi-chrome leathers.

Promises of a summer holiday adorn Stahl's poster forecasting the colours of leather for spring and summer 2004. They take their inspiration from colourful English beach huts, southern Italian towns bathed in Mediterranean sunlight and Caribbean islands with colourful houses soaking up the tropical sun.

Stahl's display at this year's APLF in June will use a myriad of new ideas to focus on performance, innovation and upgrading within a new dimension of creativity in fashion finishing. The opportunity will be taken to use this as a forum for showing the advantages of the products that have now become available in the Stahl International range following the recent acquisition of Salem Oil & Grease.

Preservatives are an essential ingredient in the leather production process, in particular to protect wet-blues, wet-whites, crust and vegetable leather against damage caused by mould. Nowadays, preservatives are no longer selected simply on the basis of their effectiveness and cost. Ecological and toxicological aspects, statutory requirements, official regulations and approval by various authorities also play an important role in such decisions. The range of leather preservatives produced by Bayer Chemicals, a division of Bayer AG, is geared to the local requirements in each tannery and to the official regulations. In response to specific regional demands, Bayer have now developed the new products Preventol OT-L and Preventol CT-L. These preservatives are optimised formulations in which the phenolic active ingredients PCMC and OPP have each been combined with one other active ingredient.

Cromogenia-Units have unveiled several new products.

Solvay Química y Minera is a leader in the manufacture and supply of sodium sulfide and sodium hydrosulfide flakes to the tanning industry. Both commodity products are used during the hair removal process in the beamhouse drum operations.

BAYER CHEMICALS will be presenting a comprehensive range of speciality chemicals for high-quality leather from the beamhouse to finishing. The main focus this year is on leather preservation, upper leather and waterproofing. 'We are already one of the leading suppliers of leather chemicals and technology worldwide', says Dr Bernhard Wehling, head of the Leather Business Unit.

As in previous years, BASF will be present as usual in Hall 3, stand 3 J 2, at the postponed Asia Pacific Leather Fair in June - demonstrating their company philosophy of 'Brilliant Solutions with Leather Technology from BASF'.

BASF have increased the capacity of their production facilities for waxes and wax emulsions at their Ludwigshafen site by 10,000 tonnes per year. The company now have a total production capacity of 45,000 tonnes per year. BASF intend to consolidate their position as market leader in Europe with this increase in capacity.

There are three interested in buying Shepherds Woolskins of Cootamun-dra who were forced into voluntary liquidation by the drought. Two are groups from China and the third is a local tanner who wants to diversify into sheepskin production.

Yue Yuen Industrial (Holdings) Ltd, the large footwear manufacturers based in Hing Kong, are to diversify into sportswear manufacturing. Their first production unit is likely to be located in Dongguan, Guangdong province, south China.

Kazakhstan's National Statistics Agency reported that leather industry production in 2002 was 36.8% higher than in the previous year. In comparison, the annual increase in industrial output as a whole was 9.8%.

Trade union sources in Bulgaria say the Prista AD, leather manufacturers, are preparing to transfer production to South Africa because the Bulgarian market is being flooded with smuggled leather and leather products from Türkiye and China, according to the Bulgarian Economic Review. Prista have not commented.

SATRA's first footwear seminars in mainland China have been completely successfully and were well attended * despite fears of the SARS virus in that part of the world.

Ceylon Leather Products Ltd (CLPL), manufacturers leather footwear and leathergoods, were planning to open a Rs25 million Initial Public Offering (IPO) in April.

All exports of leather and leather manufactured goods from Pakistan or other countries to the European Union after 2005 will come under strict scrutiny as to whether or not they are produced under environmentally friendly conditions.

The target for leather, leather garments and leather products for the year 2002-2003 has been revised to US$590 million, which is 12% below the export figure of $672 million for 2001-2002. Leather garments exports are expected to be $235 million for 2002-2003, which shows a drastic decline of 27% compared with exports of $321 million last year.

The logic behind organizing the Automotive Leather Conference in Barcelona, May 19-20, is based on the great number of unanswered questions relating to the automotive leather industry. The creator, Ron Sauer, LeatherXchange Global Information Services, said that if he knew the answers he would not need to organize a conference.

The large international tanning group, Sadesa, have launched a new corporate image. The new company logo which says 'Sadesa - Leather for Leaders' has been introduced to reflect the international evolution of the business in the past few years.

Al Hida'a the only specialised show in the Middle East dedicated to raw materials, leather garments and footwear, finished leathergoods and components is to take place September 27-30, 2003. The fair also attracts suppliers of tannery machinery and chemicals as exhibitors.

In early March the UK Food Standards Agency indicated that they wanted to scrap the ban on meat from cattle over 30 months' old and will make their recommendations to Ministers by July. The ban was introduced in 1996 to minimise the risk of eating BSE-infected meat. This could result in 300 tons of older beef/year swamping the market.

Paulo Henrique Caye has been appointed the new director of sales and marketing - leather for Bayer in Central America. Caye will be located in the tanning region of León, Mexico. He will be responsible for over 700 customers in the region and will incorporate Bayer's new automotive and footwear leather chemical systems into the Mexican and Central American markets. He will also work with Bayer's strategic alliance partners in the region. Caye originates from Novo Hamburgo in the Rio Grande do Sul region of Southern Brazil.

It was charitable for your columnist Sam Setter to give our industry a full page in your February edition. However, I would like to take issue with him on the subject of who should or should not be allowed to exhibit in a particular event.

After two years with the ECCO Group, Mike Redwood has decided to return to the UK to continue his studies and extend his activities into other fields. He will end his employment with ECCO Leather BV as of March 31, 2003.

TFL Ledertechnik AG have issued four new booklets about their finishing products. They cover the following market sectors:

Atlas Refinery Inc have expanded their line of stuffing compounds: