CICB, Brazil’s national tanneries association will not be happy. Because, as it loves to remind everyone, its planned objective is to bring the South American chain to increase exports of high added-value leather, rather than raw material. The balance sheet for the first 11 months of the year says another story, revenue from abroad of finished leather decreased by 10.6% (just under 1 billion USD), for a corresponding -8.1% in volume. In the period going from January to November, on the other hand, the export of wet blue grew by 17.2% in value (around 540 million USD) and by 39.3% in volume. But, the chances for the Brazilian tanning industry to recover are there. According to IBGE, national institute of statistics, slaughters of bovines in the third quarter of the year increased by 7.6% on yearly base. Thanks to the positive performance of the livestock industry, availability of raw hides for the tanning industry increased by 4.8%.
