The EUDR is always on the horizon (the European Anti-Deforestation Regulation), which will enter into force in December 2025, after the 1-year delay was approved. The goal remains traceability, a value to which the market has been paying increasing attention since before Brussels moved. And that is why representatives of UNIC – Italian Tanneries, with ICEC and the Leather Arbitration Chamber, went on a mission to Brazil and Paraguay: to learn about “public and private initiatives trying to develop traceability in tanneries, slaughterhouses and local farms”, reads a statement by UNIC, as well as “to collect field data, as well as technical and commercial information on the capacity to comply with the strict requirements of the EUDR Regulation”.
The mission to Brazil and Paraguay
The mission in Brazil, which UNIC organized with CICB (the reference association of the gold-green tanning segment) included meetings and visits in local tanneries (Coming, Minerva, Viva, Fuga, Durli e JBS). The initiative was useful to record “the widespread commitment to supply chain tracking (including for individual animals)”. Speaking of the EUDR, the Italian delegation also assessed “the development and improvement of support and assurance tools, including those aimed at assessing the risk of deforestation and socio-environmental illegality”. Similarly, the visit in Paraguay, in synergy with the local Ministry of Industry, was an opportunity to get the pulse of what is happening on farms, slaughterhouses and tanneries (Minerva Foods, Lecom). It was precisely the ministry to present Ley 7721, published in December 2023, which provides for the mandatory traceability of bovine animals (through the SIAP identification system) and the creation of a centralized public platform for EUDR risk assessment.
What’s Done and what is still to be done
“Progress is continuing and optimism prevails”, reads the UNIC report. But it’s certain that there’s still work to be done, and that both Brazil and Paraguay’s supply chains would need more time to be fully compliant with EUDR requirements. Meanwhile, the strength of the link between Italian tanning and the two countries is certain. Italy is today the world’s third largest importer of Brazilian hides after China and the U.S.: Brazil has historically been one of the top supplier of wet blue hides, currently accounting for 31% in volume (and 15% in value) of the total. At the same time, Italy is the world’s leading importer of Paraguayan hides, with a 52% volume share of the relevant total export of the country.
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