CHINA LEATHER INDUSTRY STILL DOMINANT DESPITE CHALLENGES ALL CHINA LEATHER EXHIBITION (ACLE) 2016

摘要

After a slow start to 2016 mainly due to the lack of footwear orders from the developed western economies, China's leather sector and its overall exports re-awakened at the end of Q1. A mild winter, excess inventory and flat retail sales both in Europe and the USA contributed directly to sluggish manufacturing activity in China's footwear factories. The slow demand for footwear leather was offset by the buoyant automotive sector which has been the driver behind the leather sector for at least the last year and a half. This fact, in conjunction with lower slaughter levels in leading supplying countries such as Brazil, Argentina and Columbia and the bans by other countries on the export of raw and semi-finished leather, has kept raw material prices steady with solid demand for top grades but with still large inventories to move of lower grade material.