Publisher of leading trade magazines for the Footwear, Leather-goods, Leather & PPE industries

Leather Industry News

Exotics: A correction, not a downturn

Published: 16th Dec 2024
Author: Pino Di Lembo; SA Crocodile Investments

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA – Ostrich has been stable this year, Nile crocodile has been more challenging. There is still a demand in Europe for the top ostrich grades and top crocodile grades.

However, the demand for crocodile in Europe has slowed down. This comes after a couple of years of high demand for Himalayan niloticus croc leather – a tanning process where the skin is not bleached, leaving the natural pigment colours to contrast against the white bellies. It was hugely popular, but now everyone is offering it, so demand has slackened. Current demand is more about normalising the curve than a drop in demand, but it feels like hitting a wall. The major brands in Europe, with the exception of very few, have seen their share prices plummet after the last few months of poor trading.

Asian demand follows Europe, but the correction isn’t as marked there yet, however we will see what the demand is after the Chinese New Year.

Quality is always an issue in Europe. American alligator skins are the main competition, and South African farmers need constantly to improve their standards. An issue at the moment in South Africa is ‘double scale’, which is a condition caused by external factors, not a genetic condition. A major cause is stress. Other contributing factors are temperature extremes and erratic feeding practices.

Overall, business is always challenging, but essentially satisfactory.

 

Shipping from China: Problems as vessels ‘redirected to South America’

Published: 27th May 2024
Author: Tony Dickson - S&V Editor

Durban, KZN, SA - The cost of sea freight from China to SA has risen, and has been compounded by a shortage of space, according to component suppliers in China.

In an email today to upper material wholesaler A. Greenaways (Natal), a supplier in China wrote: “The goods are ready, but can’t catch a ship this week. We can ship it next week. But now sea freight is crazy high – it is about USD6000 for a 20ft container.”

On 13 May, a supplier warned Greenaways: “Please be aware that the sea freight for next week’s vessel has risen to USD3250 per MSK 20' GP. COSCO will be USD3730 – the ship space is a bit cramped too.

“P.S. The freight costs for various shipping routes are skyrocketing. The cargo for our Peruvian clients, which previously cost less than 2000 for sea transport, is more than 5000 this week.”

On 22 May, the same supplier wrote: “I regret to inform you: this container was originally scheduled to be loaded in warehouse today, but last night the freight forwarder informed me that the shipping company refused to release our container due to insufficient space... The freight forwarder is helping us find new space today, but the shipping schedule is still uncertain... Moreover, the price will also be a big problem, prices are rising every day now, and there's no guarantee [that there will be space]. This will have a significant impact on the subsequent shipment of goods, and it may be difficult to improve in the short term.”

The reason for the shortage of space and the rise in prices was because Chinese companies were diverting shipping to South America, he wrote.

“The recent increase in shipping costs may be related to the following reasons. The price increase on all routes this time mainly started from South America. The reason for the price increase in South America is primarily due to Brazil imposing additional tariffs on new energy vehicles from China after July. New energy vehicle companies are accelerating the export of vehicles to South America. In addition, the United States has announced future additional tariffs on China, leading to some Chinese companies increasing their investment in South America. Shipping companies are facing a significant shortage of capacity, causing some African routes to be redirected to South America, resulting in a lack of capacity in Africa and a general increase in shipping costs. Another major factor is that shipping companies intentionally reduce ship capacity, the insufficient number of available seats has led to a significant increase in prices.” 

Waiting for the elections

Published: 20th May 2024
Author: Garth Ribbink; A. Greenaways (Natal) cc

Durban, KZN, SA – The industry is very quiet at the moment. Customers tell me that the chains are holding back until after the elections, and that come June and July, there will be good orders. I certainly hope so.

Something which disturbs me, and I’m not a shopper, is that the shoe areas in most apparel chains seem to be much smaller than they were. I don’t know whether that’s my imagination or not. 

Wage negotiations: Tanning – no settlement

Published: 20th May 2024
Author: Tony Dickson - S&V Editor

The Tanning wage negotiation took place on 14 and 15 May. “The parties were unable to reach agreement after 2 rounds of wage negotiations,” Gerald Naidoo, general secretary of the National Bargaining Council of the Leather Industry of SA, said on Friday. “The parties agreed to meet again on 10 June as an attempt to reach agreement and should no agreement be reached then the matter will be a conciliation by a CCMA commissioner.”

Footwear negotiations resume this week. 

Death notice: Ken Moakes

Published: 29th Apr 2024
Author: Tony Dickson - S&V Editor

Northampton, UK – Leather technician Ken Moakes, who retired back to the UK after many years with various tanning chemical companies in SA, died suddenly last Monday, aged 79. An obituary will follow in the May issue of S&V African Leather

Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot access offset of type string on string in /usr/www/users/svmaga/functions_core.php:282 Stack trace: #0 /usr/www/users/svmaga/include_showcatsection.php(1020): getsortedchildren(Array, '108', 'relatedindustry...') #1 /usr/www/users/svmaga/pagetemplate.php(1057): include('/usr/www/users/...') #2 /usr/www/users/svmaga/industry.php(4): include('/usr/www/users/...') #3 {main} thrown in /usr/www/users/svmaga/functions_core.php on line 282