Brazilian leather business gets off on the wrong foot in 2019. In fact, in the first two months of the year, exports of raw hides and skins decreased, in terms of value, by 24.5%, compared to the same period of 2018. As for volumes, overall, from January to February Brazil exported 31.2 million square metres of hides, therefore dropping by 3.7% compared to the first months of last year. Wet blue exports accounted for 52.7%, while finished leather accounted for 40.6% and crust for 6.7%. More specifically, volumes of exported wet blue increased by 14%, while exports of finished leather declined by 9.2%; volumes of exported crust went up by 17.5%. Because of such trend, revenues for tanners and traders turned out to be lower. Yet, on the other hand, Brazil’s leather industry achieved some brilliant accomplishments in 2018: in 17 out of 27 federal states, production in slaughterhouses enjoyed a boost, as they killed 31.9 million bovines (+3.4% on annual basis); therefore driving a higher supply of raw hides. At the same time, tanneries bought a bigger quantity of raw hides, +3%. Such positive trend about slaughtering is seemingly steady, anyway. In fact, in the first two months of the year, livestock units amounted to 3.9 million, that is, +1.3% compared to the same period of 2018.
Picture from CICB
