Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has published the last report of its export on raw hides and semi-finished hides. The first 11 months of 2022 show an 11% decrease in the number of raw hides exported and -8% in terms of value, against 2021. In terms of prices, between January and November 2022, the USA exported over 24.8 million hides for a value of 805 million USD. 14.5 million of raw hides exported ended up on the Chinese market, which still though shows a -14% in terms of value (on yearly basis).
On the contrary, always according to data from LHCA, leather exports toward Europe performed very well. Between January and November 2022, foreign revenue reached 14 million euro (+60%): raw hides that reached Italy were distributed in the majority of the country. The report highlights a +252% performance (equal to over 322,000 units), for a value of 10.6 million USD. The latter equals +205% compared to the same period of 2021.
Eleven months of US tanning
On the wet-blue front, the minus sign is visible across the board, except when considering the volumes destined for Turkey, Japan and India. Total exports equaled 3.5 million units for a total value of 381 million USD (down 6% compared to the same period of 2021). The USA exported 831,000 units of semi-finished leather to China, or -16% compared to the same January-November 2021 period. The wet-blue category recorded a 6% decrease in terms of number of units: they were almost 1.2 million in 2021 and they are now 1.1 million. Exports of wet blue to Europe, in terms of units, decrease by 6%: they were 1.2 million in 2021 and are now 1.1 million. About one million wet blue hides reached Italian tanneries from the USA between January and November 2022.
CICB’s blanace
Brazil’s tanning industry experienced a two-faced 2022, with a stable first part and a second part recording a 25% loss compared to the same period of 2021. The year closed with 1.22 billion USD in exports, down 13.8% compared to 2021 and -18.3% in volume (140.7 million square meters of leather). Data published by CICB, Brazil’s leather association, shows that the decrease in value and volume from the month of December worsened the indexes of the main export destinations.
Only the USA maintained increments on both fronts. Italy had remained stable, or even positive performances, until November, but a weak 12th month led it to close in the negative area: down 5.7% in value and 1.3% in volume. Even so, the most concerning issue during 2022 for Brazil was its main export market: China, without Hong Kong. The latter was down over 30% in terms of both value and volume. The largest global market for leather exports was responsible, according to CICB, for the negative results of Brazil’s leather exports.
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