The Le Cuir à Paris fair will take place from September 17-19 at the Expo Paris - Porte de Versailles. The Paris fair, in its fifth edition, promises to show fashion trends for the four seasons. Each edition, sees the fair getting bigger and better, showing to the world of fashion the trends of leather, new prints, audaciousness and creativity, for clothes and many other segments.

After nearly three years in the making, the European Glove Association (EGA) is now a reality. The Association received its Certificate of Incorporation in May 2003, which means that for the first time in its history, the European glove industry is now able to speak with a common voice.

Ron Sauer has written to say that our report about his leaving LeatherXchange and publishing his own independent world hide and skin report and indexes may have left our readers with doubts about whether or not he breached his contract when leaving LeatherXchange. He states categorically that he did not.

The autumn-winter haute couture season in Paris kicked off with some some dazzling leather creations by Jean-Paul Gaultier. He designed a harlequin leather patchwork bodysuit complete with hood which he accessorised with a skate-board and he also encased models from helmeted head to wedge-heeled foot in skin tight bodysuits made from jewelled leather, fringed satin, studded stretch and embroidered velvet.

According to the Daily Telegraph's science correspondent David Derbyshire, the new European rules that will force companies to do safety tests of 30,000 man-made chemicals will lead to a massive rise in 'pointless' animal experiments. This is the claim of animal welfare groups who say the proposed legislation, which came after pressure from environmentalists, will see 10 million animals used to prove the safety of chemicals - many of which have been in use for hundreds of years.

Domenico de Sole, president chief executive and chairman of the Gucci Group management board, has written to the Financial Times in the UK:

July 10 is the deadline for consultation on the new REACH - registration, evaluation and authorisation of chemicals - requirements for the European chemicals industry which are expected to have far-reaching and serious consequences for producers and users of chemicals within the European Union. For producers there will be huge testing costs, massive increases in administration, discontinuation of products lines, repression of innovation, job losses and issues of competitiveness.

The 16th International Conference on Phosphorus Chemistry, July 4-9, is being held at the International Convention Centre, Birmingham, UK (www.icpc2004.com). One of the participants, Rhodia, poses the question: How friendly are your interiors?

Lineapelle Asia is a new international leather and components exhibition which is to be held annually in Canton from November 27-29, 2003. A letter of intent was signed in November 2002 by the municipal government of Canton (Lin Yuan He) and Lineapelle Exhibition Centre (Salvatore Mercogliano) heralding co-operation in a wide range of activities, including vocational training, promotion of industrial investments and launching an exhibition for top quality products by manufacturers of the Guangdong area.

On Wednesday 11 June, Assomac and the Council for Leather Export (CLE) signed an important protocol for collaboration in the Milan office of Aimpes. The agreement - signed for Assomac by their chairman Giuseppe Barrera and for the CLE by Sampath Srinivasan Kumar - was prompted by the Council for Leather Export itself, following the work done in Calcutta by Assomac in recent months, in particular the study on the effects of relocating the city's tanning firms to the new Leather Industrial Park.

Sheep supply is generally low through June-August but, this year, slaughter levels are well below those of previous years. It would appear that fewer sheep are being sold direct as saleyard throughput remains at similar levels to recent years. Some centres continue to pen unseasonably high numbers, which has been offset by much smaller yardings at other markets, reflecting the patchy seasonal conditions.

USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS) officials have suspended 17 Argentine beef plants from exporting to the US following a sanitary mission. The inspection team randomly selected 17 slaughter plants and discovered the plants failed to comply with Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) procedures, and in some cases, animal welfare guidelines.

SOS Children's Village

Shetland Arts and Crafts are well-known for traditional high quality leathergoods.

Luxury goods group Gucci, which includes Yves Saint Laurent, Sergio Rossi and Bottega Veneta, made a pre-tax loss in the first quarter of almost US$13.77 million, compared with a pre-tax profit of US$30.6 million for the same period last year. Domenico De Sole, Gucci's chief executive, blamed the sharp fall on the war in Iraq, the outbreak of SARS in Asia and the recent strength of the euro.

Assomac, the Italian association of manufacturers of machinery for shoes, leathergoods and leather producers, have elected Giovanni Gaia as the new president.

Is his closing statement as president of Assomac, Giuseppe Barrera described the trading conditions of the past year as an annus horribilis. Barrera, who steped down as president after serving four years, gave the statement at the association's annual general meeting in Italy on June 27.

Muirhead are bringing luxurious leather to life at this year's Decosit exhibition.

Michell Leather are planning a A$4 million expansion and upgrade of their tanning facility in Gunnedah, NSW. The aim of the project is to ensure that Michell Leather maintain their efficient production capability and remain a leader in the wet-blue industry in Australia.

To address this need for market intelligence, the BLC intends to conduct an extensive market study of the global leather industry. This study will be available on a strictly confidential basis to a selected number of businesses. Interested parties should register their interest in this study by July 18, 2003. Once sufficient founder partners have been secured, the study will not be available to others for a period of 18 months from the publication date.

The theme of this year's annual BLC seminar revolves around strategy, innovation, performance and quality. In a climate where all aspects of life are put under scrutiny from a range of perspectives - from environmental to ethical, more often than not with legislative implications - business is full of potential pitfalls.

The Ukrainian government reports that Ukraine produced 79.6 million square decimetres of leather goods in the first four months of this year, a year-on-year fall of 2.2%, according to the Interfax news agency. Shoe production fell by 7.2% year-on-year to 5.12 million pairs. In value terms, Ukraine produced leather and leather goods, including shoes, worth US$45.9 million in the first four months of this year.

SATRA's new automotive facility has directly benefitted after the United Kingdom Accreditation Service confirmed accreditation for hundreds of tests at the UK technology centre.

SATRA experts have devised a new strength test for leather that provides as much information about its physical properties using a single test piece as previously when it took two different tests and four separate test pieces!

According to FTU (Foreign Trade Undersecretariat) data, Türkiye's leather imports for 2002 was a record $884.8 million, compared with leather and leather product exports worth $723.2 million. The majority of Türkiye's imports were raw hides worth $448.6 million, according to the FTU. This figures compares with raw hide imports of $274.8 million in 2001. Imports of finished leather products climbed 18% in 2002 to $295.2 million, while leather garment exports reached $24.8 million.

A member of the Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee has paid a two-day visit to UK leather manufacturers Pittards.

Apavikta shoe manufacturers in Lithuania say they plan to triple their sales on the domestic market to 60,000 pairs a year as a result of weak demand on international markets, according to the LETA news agency. The company produce 140,000 pairs last year, of which 80% were exported to the European Union.

Israel's Central Statistics Bureau reports that Israel exported leather and leather products worth US$12.4 million in the first four months of this year, compared with US$10 million in the same period in 2002. Leather and leather products' exports in the whole of last year were worth US$32.1 million.

New foreign investments ranging from US$3-5 million each will be made this year in the Grodno Tannery and the Krasnyi Oktiabr shoe manufacturer in Belarus, according to the Belta news agency. These investments, along with the successful operation of two foreign-invested joint ventures at the Trud shoe manufacturer in Gomel, show that the Belarusian leather industry is becoming attractive to foreign investors, say analysts in Minsk.

Hungary's Central Statistical Office reports that Hungary imported leather and leather products worth US$109 million in the first four months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 6.6$. Hungarian exports of the same types of commodities were 46% higher year-on-year at US$35.5 million.

Leather products and shoe manufacturers in Hanoi, Vietnam, exported products worth US$31 million in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 19%, according to the Vietnamese News Agency.

Croatia's National Statistics Office reports that the number of cattle in Croatia in the first quarter of this year was 444,000, a year-on-year increase of 7%. Of the total number, 375,000 were on private family farms and 69,000 on company farms, unchanged and 62% higher respectively year-on-year.

Albania's National Statistics Institute reports that Albania exported leather and leather products worth US$1.95 million in the first two months of this year, compared with US$2.12 million in the same period last year. Albanian imports of the same types of commodities in the first two months of this year were worth US$8.5 million, against US$6 million in the corresponding period in 2002.

Footwear UK returns to the NEC Birmingham in August, 10-12, and, as before, it will be running alongside the two MODA shows, combining to make it the biggest and most comprehensive mainstream UK fashion buying event under one roof. Quite a number of new exhibitors have come on board, in particular lifestyle brands who need to be in front of both footwear and clothing buyers.

During the annual board meeting of SIC SA, the new board members unanimously elected Paul Batigne as chairman and managing director of SIC SA for a term of six years. The shareholders appointed other new administrators for the whole of the leather sector for a term of office of six years as follows:

Italian leather chemical manufacturers ALPA have new office contact details. The new telephone number for the company's headquarters close to Milan is: +39 02 931 58501. The company fax number remains the same.

Meet In Africa, the biggest international gathering of the leather industries in the African continent will take place from 6 to 9 October 2004 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. All the activities are to be held at the UNECA - The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa.

A meeting to explore investment opportunities in the African leather industry is being held in Nairobi from July 14-17 at the Windsor Golf and Country Club. Being held under the auspices of the European Commission, the meeting will bring together a number of African and European organisations.

The organisers of the GDS International Shoe fair have announced the fair dates for 2004. The 97th edition of the show will take place from March 11-14, 2004 and 98th edition will be held from September 16-19.

The US Supreme Court ended its term on June 28 without making any decision on Nike's case which seeks a ruling on a company's right to the freedom of speech. Without ruling on the merits of the case, the justices voted 6-3 that they were wrong to hear the case in the first place.

The dates for GDS International Shoe fair in 2004 have been announced. After consulting with the international GDS Advisory Council, Messe Düsseldorf has confirmed that the 97th and 98th events in Düsseldorf are scheduled as follows: March 11-14 September 16-19, 2004.

The municipal authorities in Ho Chi Minh City in southern Vietnam have told a number of the city's tanneries to move their operations out of the city this year because they are polluting the environment, according to the Vietnamese News Agency. Most of the tanneries are found in Tan Binh and Binh Thanh districts.

Uzbek President Islam Karimov issued a decree on June 20 that abolishes all taxes, except VAT, on the production of leathergoods by foreign-invested companies during the period from July 1, 2003 to January 1, 2005, according to UzReport. The intention of the decree is to increase supplies of leathergoods on the domestic market. It is also expected that companies will use their tax savings on re-equipping and modernising their production capacities, and expanding their product ranges.

A new private joint-stock company has been created in Turkmenistan that will hold a monopoly on leather exports from the country, according to the Interfax news agency. Turkmenderi has been established by Turkmenistan's Textiles Ministry and the national association of livestock organisations.

Russia's State Statistics Committee reports that footwear production in Russia in the first five months of this year totalled 18.1 million pairs, 9.2% higher than in the same period last year, according to the Interfax news agency. In comparison, overall industrial output in Russia rose by 6.7% year-on-year.

Croatia's National Statistics Institute reports that the production of leather and leather products in Croatia in the first five months of this year was 14.3% lower than in the same period in 2002. However, production in May was 3% higher year-on-year. In comparison, overall industrial output in Croatia in the January to May period was 5.8% higher year-on-year.

The former Clujana shoe manufacturers in Romania may resume operations in the autumn, employing 300 staff and producing 1,500 pairs of shoes each day, according to Bucharest Business Weekly. Clujana are negotiating a production partnership with an Italian company that would utilise the latter's raw materials.

The All China Leather Exhibition (ACLE), scheduled for September 3 - 5, 2003, will take place as planned at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Pudong Shanghai.

With the present turmoil and rapidly falling hide prices on many world markets, it is more important than ever to have as much neutral and independent information as one can possibly get.

The consumer has a responsibility not to use the simplest method of disposal - unfortunately still in common practice - that is, just throwing refuse away. Campaigns to collect used and unwanted products and sporadic recycling initiatives go some way towards improving the situation. However, the best solution would be to make new material or products from recovered leather. The second best way to dispose of used leather is by incineration, because leather provides considerable amounts of energy. But this leaves the problem of dealing with the ash and slag.

The second-hand machinery market in Europe is still alive and kicking even though it only constitutes a small proportion of the global tannery machinery market. Many machinery manufacturers have realised that there is more money to be made from new machines and it wouldn't take too long to count the number of machinery companies who only recondition tannery machines.

Used tannery machinery never dies; it is merely bought by a second-hand machinery specialist where it is reborn and sold to a tanner in another part of the world.

Despite a difficult 18 months, the Spanish leather sector has embarked on a promotional programme to educate both leather buyers and the public about the benefits of Spanish-made leather. The campaign is being spearheaded by the newly-formed association Cec-Fecur which is known in English as the Spanish Confederation of Tanners.

Stahl Ibérica 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.

The town of Vic in Catalonia is the unofficial capital of the Spanish tanning industry and is home to most of the country's leading sheepskin tanners and a number of footwear upper manufacturers. The oldest and probably most famous name connected with the town is Colomer y Munmany, part of the Colomer Group, who have been located in the heart of Vic since 1792.

Munper are located in the leather town of Inca on the Balearic island of Mallorca. Thirty minutes by air from Barcelona, the island is more famously known as a holiday destination for thousands of tourists and the retreat of celebrities such as Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas. Inca is a forty minute drive from the island's capital, Palma, which is also where the international airport is situated and visitors entering the town are greeted with a sign in Spanish, German and English welcoming them to Mallorca's 'leather town'.

The new season for Spanish sheepskin tanners has continued along a similar path to last year. Relatively stable raw material prices have allowed manufacturers such as Inpelsa to meet reasonably high consumer demand for doubleface leather. 'Two years ago it was nappa and suede that were in fashion and now we see increased demand for doubleface', says Manuel Ríos, managing director. 'As long as raw material prices remain stable, doubleface will be in demand. I have been in this business for many years now and these things are always cyclical', he added.

Production for the spring/summer 2003 season was close to ending when Leather International visited the Loewe assembly lines in the Northern suburbs of Barcelona. Most of the company's top brass had headed north from Loewe headquarters in Madrid and Barcelona for the pret-a-porter fashion shows in Paris.

Olcina are one of the most recognised manufacturing companies for tannery equipment, particularly drums and paddles, in the world. In recent years they have invested heavily in new technology and automation systems to enable tanners to remain competitive in ever-shifting global markets.

Prices during the four-week period ended May 8 slipped further and further as sellers continued to accept lower bids just to keep the market moving. This did mean, however, that packers managed to move the majority of their slaughter.

On my most recent visit to Mexico in mid May, while I was disembarking, a health official greeted us on the tarmac, with a surgical mask strapped around his face. Proceeding to customs, all of the immigration officers had followed suit.

Hide prices fell at the factory gate in Ireland as some semblance of sanity appeared to settle on the hide markets. Perhaps the bubble has finally burst but we will have to wait a while longer before we can finally report whether the hide buyers really do want to operate a profitable business.

At the annual conference of the Leather and Allied Industries Federation of Zimbabwe (LAIFEZ) in April, members were largely concerned with survival. Power cuts, foreign exchange shortages, soaring inflation, labour unrest and stalled negotiations, price controls, are every day events that take precedence over more normal business concerns.

For the most part, American hide prices continued their recently established trend and declined further. Nearly all selections were lower in the first part of May than has been the case all year, apart from fleshed Holstein cows.

LE CUIR A PARIS is a fair that is doing well. It is a 'niche' event that has as its main objective: to inform the producers of finished goods, stylists and buyers coming from the fashion and luxury sectors on the finishes and colour trends of leather in all its variety.

German finishing chemical manufacturers Langro-Chemie are celebrating their 70th anniversary this year and, like many other companies in the leather industry, they are still a family business. The company are currently in the hands of third-generation family member Tilo Schumacher and his brother and employ around 50 people at their facilities in the centre of Stuttgart.

The tanning region of Santa Croce sull' Arno is one of the three large Italian tanning clusters. In the 50km radius of the town are located around 400 tanneries of various sizes. The town is most famous for the manufacture of quality, fashionable footwear upper and leathergoods leathers. Also located in the region are some of Italy's most famous producers of vegetable side and sole leathers.

How have the past twelve months been for the European leather sector?

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.

Statistics South Africa reports that leather industry sales in South Africa in April were worth ZAR239 million (US$30 million), compared with ZAR274 million (US$34.4 million) in March and ZAR332 million (US$41.7 million) in April last year. These statistics do not include figures for footwear sales.

Statistics Norway reports that Norway exported raw hides and skins worth NOK287 million (US$41.5 million) in the first five months of this year, a year-on-year fall of 19.8%.

Statistics New Zealand reports that New Zealand exported hides and skins, and leather, worth NZ$678 million (US$390 million) in the twelve months to the end of April, a year-on-year fall of 14.6%.

The Snezka co-operative in the Czech Republic commenced production of leather car headrests in June, which will earn the company US$D1.85 million this year, according to the CTK news agency's Business News. Previously, Snezka has produced car headrests from fabrics.

Latvia's Central Statistical Bureau reports that Latvia exported raw hides and skins, and leather, worth US$6.3 million) in the first four months of this year, compared with US$3.93 million in the same period last year. Latvian imports of the same types of commodities were worth US$6.52 million against US$3.39 million in the January to April period in 2002.

Hungary's Central Statistical Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in Hungary in the first four months of this year was 22.9% lower than in the same period last year. Total sales of leather and leather products by producers in the same period were 2% lower year-on-year, including a fall in sales of 23.2% on the domestic market and a fall in sales of 23% on export markets.

Horween Leather Company have begun a unique collaboration with Canada's oldest tannery, Dominion Tanners of Winnipeg. The two companies recently completed an agreement which will allow Horween Leather to produce Dominion's full line of shoe, boot and specialty leathers. The transfer of technology began this spring and, with the help of Dominion staff, Horween Leather have begun to run initial trials of Dominion leathers.

The Czech Statistical Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in the Czech Republic in the first four months of this year was 32.9% lower than in the same period last year. Production in April was 26.8% lower year-on-year.

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.

Unver Boduroglu, a well-known leather personality in Türkiye, has never been one to embrace fickle trends. His independent streak shines through in his new venture, Fini-Tec Deri Finisaj Teknolojisi San ve Tic Ltd, formed in 2000 with two partners, both leather technicianss.

Satra's management services team continues to expand to cope with the growing global demand for its expertise in footwear and leather supply and manufacture. Darren Brooks is the latest recruit at the UK technology centre, having previously worked at R Griggs and Co Ltd as a production cutter before transferring to become part of the quality control team which involved visiting the company's Rumanian plant.

A group of leading Russian businessmen from Edmins, an upmarket Russian fashion wholesaler, visited Pittards in Yeovil to finalise a number of contracts for glove leather. Edmins, based in St Petersburg, are at the forefront of a rapidly expanding fashion industry in Russia. They specialise in leathergoods and quality leather gloves which are sold through eleven own branded stores plus a further 200 shops across the country.

A leading product development specialist at Marks & Spencer has become the latest member of Satra's elite group of accredited footwear technologists. Dr Peter Glover's research in his bid to gain SAFT (Satra Accredited Footwear Technologist) status took him to manufacturing plants in the UK, Europe and the Far East. His preparation paid off, earning distinctions in each training module!

Dr Jürgen Hambrecht assumed the function of chairman of the board of executive directors of BASF Aktiengesellschaft following the annual meeting on May 6. 'I decided to join BASF because I could sense that it was a company in which people truly interacted and communicated with one another', is how Hambrecht described the start of his career at BASF in 1976.

Given the current state of world trade, it was unsurprising that fewer visitors were in evidence at the May edition of Lineapelle in Bologna. However, visitor numbers are no indicator of quality and when times are hard it is more likely that the browsers will stay at home than those who need to place orders to keep their business in the forefront.

At the last Birmingham Furniture Show, Incanto Divani won the Leather Upholstery Award for the second year running. This year's prize again went to a Giovanni Sforza Collection model.

Despite the current climate, Le Cuir A Paris was a resounding success. A total of 154 exhibitors presented their products with visitor numbers up 29% on the April 2002 edition to 2,700. There were 41 new exhibitors, 90% of which have confirmed their participation in the September edition.

Clariant' chief executive, Reinhardt Handte has resigned and been replaced by Roland Lösser, the group's former chief financial officer. Handte's surprise departure follows Clariant's public admission of financial problems following a decision to write off the remaining goodwill on the BTP acquisition.

Rohm and Haas chairman Raj Gupta has announced that Bradley J Bell, senior vice-president and chief financial officer, will leave at the end of May. Jacques M Croisetiere, vice-president, regional director for Europe and business director for process chemicals takes over as chief financial officer upon Bell's departure.

From April 1, 2003, Dr Michael Hepp has assumed responsibility for the global management performance chemicals for leather at BASF Ludwigshafen. He will be responsible for the global activities of the unit, in particular the worldwide strategy and coordination with Europe, North and South America and Asia with regards to production, R&D, marketing and sales.

A new black casein binder has been introduced by Stahl Europe to produce a very natural looking deep jet black. This black casein binder, BI-22-103, is anionic but may also be used in formulations using the Stahl range of cationic finishing products. Fashion trends are demanding natural looking, highly polished and glazed leathers and BI-22-103 Jet Black completes the range of casein binders that also includes both medium and hard, highly transparent binders such as BI-13-116 and BI-13-126.

Following their philosophy of upgrading in order to keep leather's elegance, Clariant have announced their latest developments for modern leather finishing.

Atlas Refinery Inc have expanded their line with three new leather processing products:

Raymond Beard of Buckman Laboratories Australia and New Zealand has been awarded the 2002 Edward Weiss Memorial Award for excellence in the leather industry. The Edward Weiss Memorial Award was established to provide recognition for an individual whose endeavours over the previous twelve months have contributed in a significant way to Buckman's progress.

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. This was stated by Suleman Ghani, Economic Minister in the Pakistan Embassy, Brussels, during a seminar on Exports to the European Union, held in Karachi under the auspices of the Export Promotion Bureau.

The import and export of China's leather industry during January-March 2003 have remained positive according to figures released by the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA).

Carlos Touguinha died in March at the very young age of 44. He was managing director of Imponente Tanning (Pvt) Ltd, part of the Costa family-owned Superior Group, Zimbabwe.

With the creation and distribution of the SFF, I seem to become more and more involved in matters that concern Africa and the more I get the opportunity to look at things inside the continent, the more I wonder about the intentions of the developed world towards Africa or the developing world in general.

Hong Kong is moving into top gear following the lifting of the WHO travel advisory. The Hong Kong government is working closely with overseas trade offices, the Hong Kong Tourism Board, airlines and hotels to promote Hong Kong as the region's business hub.

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