German leather industry attempts to smile. Verband der Deutschen Lederindustrie (VDL), the association of German tanning enterprises, made public a report over the leather industry situation. Data and figure certify a tangible recovery of businesses actively playing in the whole industry, including slaughtering. For the records, some difficulties are still affecting footwear companies, yet, overall, operators are quite optimistic about the future, starting from the second half of the current year.
German leather industry attempts to smile
The worst repercussions and effects of Coronavirus outbreak are behind. According to data supplied by VDL and subsequently reported by ILM, rates of bovine livestock slaughtering are enjoying again a positive trend. As regards leather processing on beamhouse stage, it is back to 70% of its global capacity.
Figures about wet end processing are even slightly higher. Better than expected, then, so much so that VDL emphasized the optimistic attitude of many members of the association, who look ahead to the future. According to forecast provided by the association, by the end of 2020 German leather tanning enterprises will have lost 35 to 40% of their overall revenues.
By contrast, they hope they will manage to reach, in 2021, 80% of earnings formerly gained in 2019. Likewise, the automotive sector is doing fine: apparently, buyers seem to be more orientated towards higher quality products and materials. Conversely, footwear companies are going through a few difficulties: besides Covid-19 outbreak, they still must cope with the expansion of synthetic materials.
The comment
“In wide terms, German leather industry is encouragingly showing a few sound and clear signs of recovery, with limited layoffs, fewer leaves and restoration of operating standards, nearly back to normal”, commented Andreas Meyer, VDL managing director, while talking to ILM. Aiming to enable leather industry to take full advantage of such signs of recovery, our association asked the government to cut down on bureaucracy and energy costs. Nevertheless, as a matter of fact, the situation remains rather unpredictable.
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