The Problem

Many mysterious problems in leather that manifest themselves at any stage of processing can originate from putrefaction of the raw material; grain damage, looseness, weakness, chrome soaps to name but a few. Needless to say, all result in downgrading or even rejection of leather. Bacteria are bad news!

Veinous defects on the surface of the leather have been familiar to tanners for many years. CTC has evaluated which stages of processing a box-calf leather offer opportunities to alleviate these defects whilst conserving the functionalities required from this type of leather.

Henry Ford did not want his staff to ask their customers what they wanted as the answer he suspected would have been a smoother ride in a horse and cart rather than his new automobile.

According to figures presented by the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA), the Chinese leather industry is already reeling from the elimination of all tax rebates on the export of finished leather from July 1, 2007, and the rising cost of raw materials. The output of finished leather rose 9% to 680 million sq m in 2007. Exports of wet-blue fell 54% to $55 million, while finished leather exports dropped 32% to $1.1billion. In contrast, imports of wet-blue achieved a record US$1.3 billion, up 32% while finished leather was down 0.4% on 2006 to $3.1 billion.

The Consortium of Genuine Italian Vegetable Tanned Leather in collaboration with the Italian Trade Commission hosted its Natural Sensations event in Seoul for the first time. The event took place at the Lotte Hotel and saw the participation of more than 320 people. The first part of the event was dedicated to manufacturing companies, designers and journalists while a second catered for fashion institutes.

The ‘Sourcing leather with confidence’ seminar took place on April 1 and was organised by BLC in conjunction with APLF. It was sponsored by BASF, Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) and Leather International.

The state-owned Development Bank of Kazakhstan has approved a development project at the Semipalatinsk leather plant, which will see the plant importing European-made equipment in order to increase its annual production capacity to 120 million square decimetres of leather,
according to the Interfax news agency.
The project will cost US$40 million. It is believed, that the bank will provide financing to the project. However, the report has not been directly confirmed with the Bank.

This month Sam Setter writes in his Limeblast in support of European technology which he believes is the best in the world. However, he goes as far as to say that products
manufactured by overseas subsidiaries of the European makers are not as good as those produced by them at home.
I know of a number of European organisations who would strongly take issue with this contention and I feel compelled to speak on their behalf.

Since July 1, 2007, what was formerly Cognis’ Process Chemicals SBU has been trading under the name of Pulcra Chemicals, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Cognis group. Their sales fell by 4.7% to e246 million (organic sales were down 2.5%). Although Pulcra Chemicals did achieve growth in China, volumes in all other regions were lower, due to the adverse market conditions in both the textiles and leather industries. At the same time, higher raw material costs affected the business negatively.

Prime Tanning in Maine, USA, and Shanghai Richina Leather in China, are to merge their two organisations to form Prime Leather International. Prime Tanning currently operate the largest vertically integrated
wet-blue and side-leather finishing tanneries in North America and sell finished leather to footwear, handbag, upholstery, and speciality markets worldwide and to the US military.

With three months still to go the organisers are pleased to say that bookings for the exhibition space of the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, the site for the 10^th anniversary of the annual All China Leather Exhibition (ACLE), already far exceed the number of exhibitor in previous years. All indications to-date show that this 10^th anniversary event will be a very good event. 

While it is too early to know the full effects of the massive earthquake that hit China, according to Hong Kong's South China Morning Post, even Guangdong - a province well outside the stricken area - is affected. The cities of Guangzhou and Dongguan, both major footwear production centres, are in the province.

In late May, 2008, a story that originated in October 2007, again hit the headlines in tabloid newspaper The Sun. It concerned severe allergic reactions in humans to an extremely potent fungicide which had been used to prevent mould on leather. Under the headline: A Poisoned settee burned baby, Emma Morton, the paper's Health Editor, wrote: Shocked mum last night told how her baby son suffered blistering burns all over his body after lying on a ‘toxic' sofa.

Let me start by quoting an email received by Leather from a Middle Eastern country which shows how easy it is for people to access the international trade platform and how difficult it is at the same time for them to trade:

This month Sam Setter writes in his Limeblast in support of European technology which he believes is the best in the world. However, he goes as far as to say that products manufactured by overseas subsidiaries of the European makers are not as good as those produced by them at home.

I know of a number of European organisations who would strongly take issue with this contention and I feel compelled to speak on their behalf.

While I am sure he is right in his view that product A produced in Europe is often better than product A made elsewhere, companies such as BASF and TFL go to great lengths to ensure that European standards apply in all their offshore bases.

Last month I wrote about the growing importance of fair trade, along with humanitarian concerns and consideration for the environment. Fortunately these issues will not go away although they are bound to suffer from various setbacks. In the wake of controversy surrounding animal abuse at Hallmark/Westland Meat Packing Co, the Animal Welfare Institute has released a report analysing humane slaughter enforcement at US meat processing plants over a five-year period from 2002 through to 2007.

At this year's annual stockholders' meeting in Cologne, the board of management and the supervisory board of speciality chemicals company LANXESS AG proposed to stockholders that the dividend be significantly increased. According to the proposal, LANXESS's dividend is to be quadrupled from 25 cents for 2006 to e1.00 per share for 2007, putting it in line with those of other companies in the sector. At the same time, this substantial increase reflects the company's successful strategy of profitable growth.

Further reinforcing its position as the industry's top intellectual forum in the US, the Materials at WSA Expo & Conference have announced ‘The Future of Footwear Manufacturing in China', the newest addition to their educational workshop programme for the upcoming July event.

Ron Sauer was invited by the organisers of the IILF fair in Chennai, India, to present a seminar on ‘World raw material markets and the status of the tanning industry in China, Italy and Brazil.' Here we provide extracts from the presentation which proved popular with delegates

When planning her final year collection entitled ‘Nature's Baroque', BA (Hons) Fashion (Footwear and Accessories) Jody Parchment (a Year 3 student) knew she needed a special type of thin leather for her bags, shoes, gloves and belts.

With great sadness, Stahl have announced the death of Jon Bouchard, president of the Performance Coatings Division. Jon joined Stahl over forty years ago and spent his entire career at the USA company at Peabody, Massachusetts.

Shri Harbans Rai Malik of Malik Traders, Mumbai, was awarded the ‘Doyen of the Leather Industry' in the CLE export awards 2008. Malik has been associated with the Indian leather industry for more than five decades.

The board of CTC named Yves Morin as chief executive officer on January 1, 2008. He succeeds Marc Folachier.

First the excuse for a dull market was the Thanksgiving and then the Christmas and New Year holidays. Then it was the recently completed Lunar New Year holidays in Asia that kept the market in its current narrow trading range.

In the four week period ended February 23, 2008, Federally Inspected Slaughter amounted to an average kill of 620,000, down from the  663,750 of our previous report and also down on the 627,000 average of the same period last year. FIS was running at -1.3% behind the 2007 figures. Cattle and calves on feed for slaughter at feedlots with capacities of 1,000+ head, totalled 12 million on February 1, 2008.

A recent edition of La Conceria talks about protectionism in the Brazilian leather industry. The tax on wet-blue bovine and calf exports was established at 9% in December 2000. The Italian leather industry and Cotance have tried to persuade the world's largest producer of hides to reverse its decision, but to no avail.

Meatco Okapuka Tannery, Windhoek, Namibia, have become ‘a serious contender for South African hides', according to manager George Kotze. Last year, the tannery bought 50,000 hides in SA. In total, the tannery produced 260,000 wet-blue hides in 2007, absorbing almost all available Namibian hides.

Italian footwear producers Geox plan to open a factory in Pirot. Italian businessmen met with Serbian President Boris Tadic and stated they would invest the sum of e8 million in their production facility to be opened in the south of Serbia. In the first phase Geox will employ a total of 1,000 workers.

DK Leather Corporation Bhd want to acquire the remaining 70% of Thailand-incorporated DK Schweizer Thailand Ltd, which makes automotive leather upholstery, from various Thai individuals for 1.4 million baht, resulting in it becoming a wholly owned subsidiary.

South Africa's second dedicated crocodile leather tannery was due to open officially on March 1, though it has been conducting trials for some months. Le Croc Tanning, sister company to Le Croc Breeding Farms, will have the capacity to tan 2,000 skins/month. They expect to build up to that level within a year.

The ostrich industry in the Eastern Cape has been ‘greatly strengthened and stabilised' with the setting up of a company which links small black ostrich farmers with an established ostrich group, and also creates a vertical organisation from chick raising to marketing all ostrich products.

The 33rd edition of leather and footwear fair Anpic took place between February 14-17 in the Poliforum exhibition centre in León, Guanajuato. The event was brought forward from its original  February 23-26 slot.

The exhibition covered 40,000m, with the participation of 1,240 exhibtors, 35% of which were from overseas.

There is a growing trend for the big brands, Tate & Lyall sugar for instance, to get behind the concept of Fair Trade, ensuring that poorly paid workers in developing countries get a better deal for their labours.

The start of the new year saw the handing over of key roles in the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies. This is what incoming president Elton Hurlow has to say.

In recent years the consumer market has moved towards requiring an enhanced level of responsibility from brands and retailers for their products. To keep leather brands and retailers up-to-date on hot topics regarding restricted substances, BLC will be writing a series of articles for this publication.

Purchasing decisions are based on factors such as quality and, increasingly, on social, ethical, safety and environmental grounds. Restricted substances are an important issue for both manufacturers and consumers due to extensive and complex legislation. Whether it is potentially harmful to the environment or to the user, everything should be checked in order to demonstrate due diligence and corporate social responsibility.

In each issue, one substance will be looked at in detail, including subjects such as legislation, toxicity and safe limits. This overview article is the first in the series and covers frequently asked questions by manufacturers and retailers.

The Heidemann lecture at last year's Washington IULTCS Congress was presented by Lorenz Siggel of BASF. Collagen is the most abundant protein in mammals and has been studied for more than a century with the aim of improving the tanning, dyeing and finishing processes.

The Technological Institute for Footwear and Related Industries (INESCOP), together with the Egyptian Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), are cooperating in a LIFE-Third countries project entitled ‘Demonstration of Clean Technologies in the Tanning Process' (Ecotan). Within the framework of this project, an analysis of Egyptian tanneries environmental situation has been carried out. The results are summarised in the following article.

Introduction

Chrome tannage has been recognized as one of the most effective tanning agents and has been widely employed in the leather industry since its discovery more than 100 years ago. However, due to its environmental impact, the practice of tanning with chromium (Cr) compounds has been restricted or prohibited in developed areas such as the United States and Europe and certain goods made with chrome tanned leathers are no longer allowed to be manufactured or sold within these countries.

The Problem

Growth lines, growth marks or growthiness are terms used to describe lines in leather that extend across the hide perpendicular to the backbone. Cattle hides display this feature most but they also occur in small skins such as goat. They are sometimes also described as neck wrinkles or fat wrinkles.

Benchmarking is how companies compare themselves with others to see how they are measuring up. Despite the general acceptance of the concept, Jakov Buljan, Unido consultant, said that many tanners do not like to admit that they do not know what benchmarking is.

My train rolled along tracks winding though a landscape dotted with farms and the steady rattle was punctuated by the assault of raindrops and gusting wind against the windows. We had just pulled out of a station and the new passengers, with a cold dampness clinging to them, fled into our car. 

A novel wet-end technology based on expandable microspheres has been developed by LANXESS in order to upgrade lower quality hides and skins. Dietrich Tegtmeyer presented the work at the IULTCS Congress in Washington. His co-authors were Otto Vorlaender, Werner Zeyen, Frank Silberkuhl and Christopher Tysoe.

According to TFL, maximum yield is what makes all tanners tick! With Borron DL, TFL have launched a new tool to improve cutting yield by boosting the effect of other special chemicals used in the beamhouse. This leads to an improved lay-out and area yield without making grain or bellies loose.

For some years I have been waging some sort of war against misused money in the development world in the hide, skins and leather trade. From reactions received it is clear that our trade acknowledges my Limeblasting as right but when you look at what is being done about it, the results are very disappointing.

Everybody hopes that the end of the Chinese New Year festivities will bring some badly needed new action to the leather trade. 

Some believe the kill in Europe could increase because of the restrictions by the European Union on meat imports from Brazil. I do not believe hide prices will go up shortly. Supply is no problem today (except for low grades). You can buy every hide you want in the world but the thing is, it is not wanted! At least not at the prices asked.

Stahl's Fashion Colour Forecast poster for autumn and winter 2009/10 has a look of glamour thanks to a theatrical photograph and an eye-catching selection of largely dark colours. The contrast with the muted colours of nature during the season could hardly be greater.

Smit & Zoon have launched a new UV resistant syntan, Syntan DM 262. Syntan DM 262 is a white syntan for the production of white and light coloured leathers.

Following the successful launch of the Materials at WSA in February 2008, the next edition will take place in Las Vegas, July 27-29, 2008.  The latest and most innovative materials, components and manufacturing and sourcing options available to the footwear and accessories industry will be on display.  Leading names and niche up-and-coming suppliers will launch new materials, techniques and applications for all sectors of the footwear supply chain to the US industry for the first time.

Restrictions on beef exports may force JBS SA, who recently reported a third successive quarterly loss, to cut production and fire workers in Argentina. Joesley Mendonca Batista, president and CEO of the Sao Paulo, Brazil-based beef giant, told investors his company will begin scaling back production by 30% and lay off 1,500 of the 4,000 workers in Argentina, where they operate five beef plants, if the Argentine government doesn't lift export restrictions.

Clariant's Leather Business have launched their new shade card illustrating the latest fashion colours for the forthcoming autumn-winter season of 2009-2010. The company will give their customers a first insight into colour trends and provide stylish directions for leather interpretations.

The Footwear Distributors and Retailers of America (FDRA) and BLC Leather Technology Centre Ltd are organising a two-day Footwear and Leather Product Safety and Environment conference on September 17-18, 2008, at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Long Beach, California.

Hungary's Central Statistical Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in Hungary in the first quarter of this year was 38.1% higher than in the same period in 2007.

The Institute of Statistics in the Bosnian Serb Republic reports that leather industry production in the Republic in the first quarter of this year was 2.6% lower than in the same period in 2007.

Ukraine's State Statistics Committee reports that the production of leather and leather products in Ukraine in the first four months of this year was 26% higher than in the same period in 2007.

Romania's National Statistics Institute reports that the production of leather and leather products in Romania in the first quarter of this year was 5.6% lower than in the same period in 2007.

Moldova's National Statistics Bureau reports that Moldova exported raw hides and skins, and leather and leather products, worth US$29.1 million in 2007, compared with US$23.6 million in 2006 and US$71.6 million in 2005.

Latvia's Central Statistical Bureau reports that Latvia exported raw hides and skins, and leather, worth US$11.4 million in the first quarter of this year, of which 88.7% were exported to the European Union.

The National Statistical Service of Greece reports that Greece imported 157,289 kilos of leather products worth E2.35 million from Turkey in the first half of 2007.

Kosovo's Statistics Office reports that Kosovo exported leather and leather products worth E576,000 in March, compared with E907,000 in March 2007.

The Czech Statistical Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in the Czech Republic in the first quarter of this year was 0.9% higher than in the same period last year.

Ireland's Central Statistics Office reports that the production of leather and leather products in Ireland in March was 2.4% higher than in the same month in 2007.

Slovenia's Statistical Office reports that Slovenia imported raw hides and skins, and leather, worth US$46.1 million in the first two months of this year.

JBS-Swift & Co CEO Wesley Batista has told a Senate judiciary subcommittee hearing that his company's proposed acquisitions of National Beef Packing Co and Smithfield Beef Group would not reduce market competition.

A new trade fair initiative in India to be launched by APLF Ltd, Footwear, Materials, Manufacturing & Technology (FMM&T), will take place in Delhi in the spring of 2009. This new trade fair will be organised in association with the Indian Footwear Components Manufacturers Association (IFCOMA), one of the leading trade associations servicing the US$5 billion Indian footwear industry, with the support of other relevant trade associations. 

More than 300 exibitors are expected at the next edition of Le Cuir A Paris to be held from September  23-26, 2008, in hall 4 of the Parc des Expositions de Paris Nord Villepinte. Among the new exhibitors, the Italian participation will be reinforced with 13 newcomers as well as the return, after a period of absence, of Conceria Incas and Italhide. There will also be first-time participation by JSC Vilniaus Kailai (Lithuania), Sri Sinn Fah Tannery (Thailand) and Tanneries Megisseries du Maghreb (Tunisia).

JBS SA have completed the acquisition of the Tasman Group, Australia. The $150 million deal makes Sao Paulo-based JBS responsible for 15,000 employees and owner of 15 production units in Australia.

Effective July 1, 2008, the Leather business unit of the speciality chemicals group LANXESS will transfer their regional marketing headquarters in Asia from Hong Kong to Singapore, from where the relevant logistics processes for the Chinese market will also then be handled. This means that in future order handling and distribution of the Leather business unit for the entire Asia region will be controlled for the most part from the ‘hub of Asia'.

Israel's Central Statistics Bureau reports that Israel imported leather and leather products worth US$31.6 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with US$28.3 million in the same period in 2007.

Serbia's Statistical Office reports that Serbia exported leather and leather products worth E44 million in the first quarter of this year, compared with E37 million in the same period in 2007. Serbian imports of the same types of commodities in the first quarter were worth E73.9 million, as against E60.8 million in the corresponding period in 2007.

Ireland's Central Statistics Office reports that the number of cattle slaughtered in Ireland in the first quarter of this year was 10.2% lower than in the same period in 2007.

Macedonia's State Statistical Office has reported that the production of leather and leather products in Macedonia in the first quarter of this year was 5.9% lower than in the same period in 2007.

Azerbaijan's State Statistics Committee reports that Azerbaijan imported raw livestock hides and skins, and leather and leather products, worth US$1.93 million in 2007. Azeri exports of the same types of commodities in 2007 were worth US$9.73 million.

A US Senate Judiciary subcommittee on the Antitrust, Competition Policy and Consumer Rights, has announced a hearing on May 7 on the ‘Concentration in Agriculture and an Examination of the JBS/Swift Acquisitions'.