Cotance, the European federation of tanning national associations, together with CICB, the association of Brazil’s leather manufacturers, have sent a joint letter to negotiators who are currently committed to writing the free trade agreement between the European Union and Mercosur (for the records, things are going rather slowly). It is going to be a valuable deal between two business areas, which play a leading role as to cattle and sheep and goat hides and skins: “a single opportunity that comes along once in a lifetime”, an action that may “reduce the price volatility of raw hides and skins and stabilize the market”, they point out in the letter. Talking about raw hides and skins, Cotance and CICB also addressed their message to associations of tanners in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Brazil’s government has recently removed customs duty on exports of wet blue leather and salted leather, while Argentina’s president, Mauricio Macri, pledged to implement a (difficult) deregulation of Argentina’s raw hides and skins market. That’s why the agreement between Mercosur and EU is a chance for South American partners to open their own boundaries.
Mercosur is a valuable “opportunity”. Cotance and CICB ask tanners from Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay to support the agreement
