I am very well aware that Limeblast concentrates very much, maybe too much, on Africa and on development aid in our industry to Africa. Readers have observed that they appreciate reading about this but would like to have the same dirt dished out from other regions as well.

Introduction

Defects are one of the biggest sources of non-conformity in leather production. Some of the defects are inherent in the live animal and the tanner is not able to measure the quality of their incoming raw material.

Charges for money transfers are excessive, claims Alliance & Leicester Commercial Bank, as it launches a £5 international fee

The footwear industry in Indonesia has had a boost from the anti-dumping duties imposed on China. According to Eddi Widjanarko of Aprisindo, investors from all over the world, including China and even Vietnam, are investing in Indonesia’s shoe factories which had been mothballed in the light of the crisis.

Le Cuir A Paris continues to grow a little each edition. This time there were about 24 companies more than last year and slightly more space was occupied than this time last year (this show is traditionally bigger than the spring one).

Major suppliers have already signed up for the Materials at WSA Expo & Conference next February 19-21, 2008. The new event will bring the supply chain alongside the WSA footwear and accessories show and will focus on innovative materials such as leathers, synthetics, textiles,components,technology and sourcing solutions for the footwear sector.

The Indo Leather and Footwear Fair 2007 took place at the Jakarta International Expo in July. Organised by Kristamedia, the fair comprised two halls of finished goods manufacturers, footwear machinery, tanners and chemicals companies including Buckman Laboratories and C&E India.

The hoped for price strength going into September fizzled out by mid-month as much of the industry convened in China for the Shanghai leather fair. Tanner visits by sellers in the week prior to and after the event, held in the first week of September, also brought less business and lower prices than producer and trader alike had hoped would develop.

What a summer! Foot and mouth returned to the UK in what appears to be an accidental leak from a testing site near London. It is still unclear as to who was at fault over this but it is quite clear that the UK hide and skin handlers have had to pay a heavy price for which there will be no compensation.

After the hard won battle to get American beef back into South Korea, Seoul has now banned imports from four of Cargill’s five beef plants due a series of erroneous shipments.

The Shanghai fair did not bring surprises or new developments. Demand remains mainly for cheap material,forced so by the manufacturers of the finished products who say they can only pay less for the leather due to the instructions and orders they receive from the world’s big marketing companies.

Figures released by the Federal Bureau of Statistics have revealed that from July-June 2006/07, total exports of leather products recorded a strong decrease of 24.42% by value and 23.47% by volume compared with a year earlier.

Mississippi Beef Processors plant contractor, Sean Carothers has to pay $250,000 in restitution to taxpayers. He is also reported to be helping authorities investigate another person allegedly involved in the failed facility, which closed in 2004 after just three months of operation

Mario Levi Manufacturing SA have opened a sewing plant in a joint venture with an unnamed black empowerment group in Uitenhage, South Africa. It is reliably understood that the plant began operations at the end of September.

BASF Curtex have opened their new business premises in Ribarroja del Turia, near Valencia, Spain. The site comprises office space and a complete technical centre.

Italian leather firm Gruppo Mastrotto are unable to market their products in Indonesia due to the fact that a local firm was first to patent the brand name in Indonesia.

The Vietnamese footwear industry is aiming to reach exports of US$6.2 billion by 2010, according to deputy chairman of the Viet Nam Leather and Footwear Association, Nguyen Duc Thuan.

Drum manufacturer Vallero International and automation specialist Acquacontrol Automazioni signed an agreement which will enable both companies to expand the services offered to customers worldwide.

Following an article published on www.leathermag.com on July 27, 2007, sources at APLF believe that an investigation into alleged circumvention from Macau has been launched by OLAF, the European Anti-Fraud Office, although notification has not yet (as of July 31) appeared in the Official Journal. This follows a number of visits to Macau by various Commission officials and the analysis of trade data.

Prime Tanning and Irving Tanning Company have signed a letter of intent to merge, in a move that will create the largest vertically integrated tanning operation in the US with projected revenues in excess of US$225 million.

The European Union (EU) council of ministers have approved imposing a definitive 29.6% anti-dumping duty on imports of bicycle saddles exported from China.

BASF have combined their leather and textile chemicals businesses into one global organisation, but they will continue to be driven separately based on the individual market requirements.Global concepts will be tailored to the market needs and implemented by the regional teams set up in strategically important markets worldwide.

Rohm and Haas Company have celebrated the inauguration of their second, state-of-the-art acrylic emulsions facility in India to meet growing demand for their environmentally advanced products and technology in this important region.

Inc. magazine has ranked Foothills Leather Co number 4281 on its first-ever Inc.5,000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in the US. The Inc. 5000 list catches many businesses that are too big to grow at the pace required to make the Inc.500 list.

Nike are importing around 5,000 footballs a day from a new supplier in Pakistan with the aim of increasing the figure to 15,000/day after 90 days of successful operations. Silver Star Group, based in Sialkot, will eventually be given a contract for 2-3 million balls a day, according to Abbas Bhatti, production manager of Silver Star.

DyStar have announced their decision to refocus their leather activities and sign an agreement to transfer their leather finishing business to Heim Leather Chem GmbH. The transaction was expected to be closed in early September.

A number of top people in the industry gathered at Palais Brongniart (the Paris bourse) for the first International Leather Forum. This was the brainchild of Marc Folachier, current president of the International Union of Leather Technologists and Chemists Societies and head of France’s renowned research and development centre CTC.

I have recently returned from the ACLE in Shanghai and whether or not business was conducted and how much depended on who you were talking to. The fair is a good size, has lots of visitors and is well organised but leather trade has its ups and downs as everyone knows.

September saw work start on the new ECCO tannery in Xiamen, China, alongside four footwear units which are already in production. ECCO opened their first Chinese footwear unit in April 2005 on a 200,000 sq m plot of land with 120,000 sq m earmarked for a possible future tannery.

'From collagen to leather' is the title of a new 350-page book published in English by BASF. Professor Günther Reich, the eminent collagen scientist and former head of the Research Institute Leder-und Kunststoffbahnen (FILK), Freiberg, was assisted in the writing of the book by members of the BASF leather department.

While legally retaining their name, Tanneries Nouvelle Pechdo SAS, France, will in future be known as Tanneries Pechdo.

A slaughterhouse built at a cost of Sh60 million in the Turkana district of Nairobi is now ready. Construction of the slaughterhouse was jointly funded by Africa Medical Research Foundation and Terra Nova of Italy. The foundation offers medical care to people in marginalised areas while Terra Nova assists them economically.

LANXESS, one of the leading suppliers of leather chemicals, and the Japanese chemical company Daikin Industries Ltd, Osaka, have jointly developed a water-based long-lasting antisoiling system that effectively protects pale-coloured leather surfaces from soiling.