It sounds strange even to say it, but the one ended on April 1st at the Dubai World Trade Center is the first APLF without the Chinese. Yes, the fair that has always had Hong Kong as its home and the Far East/Pacific market as its focus, was held in the Arab Emirates for the first time (March 31 – April 1). And without the audience from Far Eastern countries. The fair, as we have told you in recent days, left the exhibitors satisfied. Despite all the difficulties (Covid; high bills, transport and costs; the war in Ukraine), the market proved lively. The market was driven above all by buyers from Central Asia: first and foremost Indians, but also Pakistanis and Bengalis. China, however, remains central to all considerations.
An APLF without the Chinese
Yes, the question hovering over APLF is one of the future. In 2021, the Chinese leather industry was the fastest to recover from the shock of the pandemic. But now, the same industry is once again under the lash of the waves of contagion and lockdown, conditioned as it is by Beijing’s No Covid policy. In this scenario, which is part of the longer-term relocation of the supply chain from the People’s Republic to neighbouring countries (Vietnam and Cambodia, for example), India’s initiative is growing. It has the potential to steal market shares from China. Provisionally, or definitively. The question is this: will China return to its grandeur on a global scale, or is it a sector destined to become self-sufficient? We will only know the answer to this in time.
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