President Jair Bolsonaro himself had to make an announcement to remove all doubt. He posted his comment on Twitter: “Export (of leather, editor’s note) keeps working regularly”. Nevertheless, a real media storm has been hitting Brazil’s leather tanning industry. In fact, Folha de Sao Paulo first made public the news about 18 brands (most of which belong to VF Corp US group) that are going to stop buying Brazilian leather following the recent blazes in the country, still underway. Well, worldwide press talked about the scoop. No wonder, then, they thought it was a boycott campaign on a large scale. It is not really that though.
The leak
Folha de Sao Paulo came into possession of a report sent by CICB, the association of Brazilian tanneries, to the Minister of Agriculture. In the report, they were hinting at some advisories made by a few associate companies, according to which 18 brands would be allegedly ready to suspend their leather orders. What is the reason for that? Because of fires, as we said.
Clarification
Let us make things clear. They have not been launching a boycott campaign though. Fernando Bello, CICB executive president, while speaking to Folha de Sao Paulo, stressed the fact that 18 brands did not cancel their orders, previously forwarded. Actually, they urged tanneries to provide further guarantees about product traceability. Therefore, brands do not want to boycott Brazilian leather; yet, before the make any other orders, they want suppliers to certify that there is no connection between hides and blazes underway in Brazil’s forest areas.
