300,000
Like the pieces of Spanish Entrefino lamb leather traced in the first year of project SELAMBQ (Spanish Entrefino Lamb Quality). Its main goal is to “find solutions to the effective qualitative decay of this niche tanning raw material, which is particularly liked by the high-end market”, reads a note in the press. SELAMBQ is coordinated by Cotance (Confederation of National Associations of Tanners of the European Community), in collaboration with UNIC – Italian Tanneries, Acexpiel (Asociación Española del Curtido) and FFTM (Fédération Française de la Tannerie Mégisserie). It involves the Spanish association representing livestock farmers and meat producers (Interovic and Anafric). It is promoted and financed by 8 top specialized European tanneries: Russo di Casandrino (Italy, in photo); Riba Guixa, Bosch Girona Colomer/Ledexport and Inpelsa (Spain); Bodin-Joyeux, Mégisserie Richard and Mégisserie Alric (France). The researchers’ team is run by José Maria Gonzàlez-Sainz (veterinary professor at the University of Saragozza), and the team has found a specific variety of defects originating from the way in which the lambs are raised and slaughtered, all of which has a big impact on the quality of the hides. SELAMBQ is now set on developing a sensitization campaign at the top of the chain; it will establish shared standards and good livestock farming practices, as well as ones related to slaughtering; it will also create certifications and tools to safeguard quality. (lf)
1
Like the 1st tannery to obtain ICEC’s certification for the Traceability of Raw Material (CERT-014A-2018-TRACEABILITY) for its splits. Tuscan tannery, Conceria M2, was the first. The splits, in fact, deriving from the breaking of raw material for the tanning industry, develop a path from slaughterhouse to tannery that isn’t easy to monitor. “We decided to ask for ICEC’s certification because transparency on the origin of materials is of great importance today, for the clients as well as for the quality of the supplies”, explains Luca Masoni from Conceria M2.
24
The percentage that indicates the value decrease of the US exports of tanning raw material (raw and wet blue), in the first 10 months of 2018: 939 million USD against the 1.2 billion USD of the same period in 2017. In volume: 19.6 million leathers, meaning a 4% decrease on yearly base. The data was provided by USHSLA. Sales towards Beijing + Hong Kong lost 12% in volume and 31% in value. US exports also lose ground in Korea (-3% in volume and -25% in value) and Taiwan (-28% in volume and -43% in value). The Euro-zone loses 8% in quantity, but gains 5% in value, while Italy hits the breaks harshly (-24% volume, -25% value).
51
The number of New Zealander bovine livestock farms cured and cleared of the mycoplasma bovis epidemic (which hit in mid-2017). The eradication plan for health reasons forced the slaughter of 50,000 units in 2018, but the complete eradication of the disease requires the reaching of 100,000 units. According to some observers, the mandatory slaughtering plan hasn’t influenced the market of raw material for the tanning industry.
40
Like the billion Rupies (about 500 million euro), that 300 tanneries in the Indian tanning district of Kanpur Unnao (which puts 300,000 people to work), could lose every month. The tanneries were forced to close for religious reasons from December 15th 2018, to March 15th 2019. The next concession, by the Pollution Control Board, according to which tanneries would be able to work at 50% capacity “is false, the water treatment plant is shut down”.
50
The million USD allocated in Ecuador for the development of a new footwear district near the city of Ambato. The government gave 17 million USD of funding, while the remaining 33 will be invested by companies and others. The district will join 23 shoe factories from the Tungurahua province, where a tanning district that produces 80% of the South American country’s finished leather is currently active. Ecuador hopes, by making this change, to intercept the positive moment of the national economy.
14
The number of employees working for Cafra, tannery based in Turbigo, which has recently been purchased by Bonaudo, company run by Alessandro Iliprandi, which, in a financial operation, acquired 100% of Cafra’s capital. For Bonaudo, a business with three production sites (in Cuggiono, Montebello and San Giovanni Ilarione), that tan very high quality leather, this is “the completion of our range of offers for the market, as well as the ability to provide an additional service to our clients, which in terms will allow us to add to our products list ovine-leather liners, of high quality, traceable, and certified”. Within a year, Cafra’s production will be integrated within an ad-hoc department created by Bonaudo.
500
The number of products (theirs and “other suppliers”), which Lanxess is hosting inside its B2B digital marketplace CheMondis. It connects manufacturers and buyers, allowing them to offer, and purchase their own chemical products. Just a few weeks after its launch, over 200 companies have already registered on the platform, which, says Lanxess, unites “deep knowledge of the chemical industry, full of startups working at a high level and with great technological knowledge”.
30.8
The percentage lost in the foreign revenue department, by Brazil’s leather segment, on yearly base, equal to 106 million USD, during the month of December 2018. The decrease has been progressive, if multiplied with that of November (-6.7%). According to CICB, Brazilian tanners’ association, all of 2018 moved in a negative direction: total turnover (1.4 billion USD) decreased by 24% in total, and volume lost 10.2% (181.7 million square meters).
60
The percentage of raw material discarded in Zimbabwe. This could be the reason why the government has decided to introduce a legislation that appears to be liberal, but isn’t.
For two years, a fiscal relief worth 0.75 cents/kg is given to companies that register on a specific registry. The relief is only given to stock that is to be sold abroad, but only if internal demand has been fully satisfied first.
60
The thousands of jobs that the clothing, footwear and leather goods’ industries combined, aim at creating in South Africa. The vice-minister for industry, Bulelani Magwanishe announced it in occasion of the inauguration of Africa Bespoke Apparel’s plant (ABA). The government, it would seem, wants to “rebuild the country’s productive capacity of the fashion segment”, which only with regards to the footwear industry, already provides the country with 10,000 jobs.
4
Like the number of editions of the World Leather Congress, the international congress of tanners, that this year will be held on July 16, 2019 in New York. The organizers will be the American tanners of LIA, USHSLA (US Hide and Leather Association), under the hat of ICT (International Council of Tanners) and with the concrete support of UNIC – Italian Tanneries and Lineapelle, whose spin off in the Big Apple (Lineapelle New York), will start the day after, Wednesday 17, and end on Thursday 18. The event maintains its identity base, but updates it under a more cultural and fashion profile. It is based on a catchy concept, Leather in Everyday Life, and will decline it through a series of interventions and round tables that will deepen the identity of leather as an ideal material for fashion creativity, but also for the product design of all the production segments that use it and enhance it. But not only that: leather will be placed at the center of attention for “the many, positive ways in which it interacts in the everyday life of people. This is why some speakers will also report its value from a sustainable point of view”.
Waiting for the list of interventions, the structure of the event has been defined. It will be divided into three sessions. The first will decline the theme of modernity of leather. The second one will be sustainability. The third, and conclusive, will come alive in the slogan that supports WLC19: the experience of leather, the one that each of us lives daily, several times a day.
