Someone said that Chinese buyers were actively playing, just for precaution though: in other words, they were up to shopping today rather than doing it tomorrow, at higher prices perhaps. Somebody else closed the stand while confirming his early feelings: one of them, for example, was Iacopo Ceccatelli, from Incas Tuscan tannery: “Even though we are currently facing a clear situation of economic uncertainty, we can see a few signs of recovery”. Furthermore, Gabriele Giarletta, from Gama, based in Solofra, pointed out: “At the beginning the fair turned out to be quite lively and bustling, but it faded at the end”. We are talking about APLF (Asia Pacific Leather Fair), on its 35th edition: the exhibition, which took place in Hong Kong, closed its stands a few hours ago, while proving, once again, the current stagnant situation of its reference market, namely the Chinese one. In addition, the fair trend has been also mirroring a rather complicated international scenario. After all, the fair was bound to confirm some figures about China’s leather business, provided by CLIA (China Leather Industry Association). Looking at such data, in 2018 China’s exports of “footwear, finished leather and raw hides”, to be considered as one commodity, increased by 0.1% only, compared to 2017. Data about exports of leather upper shoes are even more relevant and meaningful: volumes decreased by 0.5% and values were pretty much the same (+0.1%). “Considering the overall situation – wrapped up a tanner coming from Veneto – we could not expect much more. Prospective opportunities are uncertain as well: let’s just wait and see”. That is all from Hong Kong.
Pictures from leatherfair.aplf.com
