Springs, Gauteng, SA - Hannitan has started work on a crusting plant in Atlantis, outside Cape Town, to open probably in August, MD Rudolf Hanni said on Friday.

      “It’s not replacing Hannitan,” he said. “It’s to alleviate bottlenecks in Springs, and the reason we’ve chosen Atlantis is that it has a more reliable electricity supply.”

      He said the plant would have the capacity to process 1 000 hides/day.

      He said the plant would mainly supply Hannitan, but would also serve the export market.

Gerald Naidoo, General Secretary/Principal Officer, National Bargaining Council of the Leather Industry of SA

General Goods and Handbag Sector:
The second round of wage negotiations took place in Cape Town on 03 and 04 May 2023. The Employer Organisation has made the below offer of settlement to the NULAW & SACTWU.

1)      Wage Increase: An increase of 7% on all prescribed operations with effect from 1 July 2023.

   2)      Family Responsibility Leave: Family Responsibility Leave will be increased by one day’s unpaid leave, effective from 1 July 2023.

NULAW has accepted the employer’s offer of settlement whilst SACTWU has indicated that they would need to consult their members before providing an official response to the settlement offer. SACTWU has not responded to the Employer’s offer as yet.

Tanning Sector:
SATEO has made a final offer of settlement to SACTWU & NULAW as follows:
1)      Wage Increase: A wage increase of 7.25% on all prescribed operations with effect from 1 July 2023.

2)      Learners: The provisions for learners in Schedule 1 shall be amended as follows:
Learner-ship shall apply to employees employed on Bands A1, A2, B, C and E in Sections 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5.
The period of learner-ship shall be reduced by six months with the removal of the Second Six months of experience. (learners shall earn 80% of the prescribed rate pay for the first six months of experience and thereafter earn the qualified rate of pay for the operation performed).

3)      Family Responsibility Leave: The scope of Family Responsibility Leave will be broadened to include “when the employee’s biological grandparent is sick”
NULAW accepted the employers’ offer while SACTWU will revert by 25 May.

Footwear
The second round of the Footwear Sector wage negotiation will take place in Durban on 16th & 17th May 2023.

Vienna, Austria - Annually, 28 April is observed as both 'World Day for Safety and Health at Work' and 'International Commemoration Day for Dead and Injured Workers', which is why the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) chose that day to launch a new course, Occupational Safety and Health Aspects of Leather Manufacturing (OSHALM).

      Full details will be carried in the May issue of S&V African Leather later this week.
 

Hong Kong - For the second year, APLF is being held in Dubai (13-15 March), and the organisers say statistics from APLF 2022 show that 76% participants found APLF "tremendously useful" to their business, and 84% of participants said that they will re-visit APLF Dubai this year in 2023.
         The Dubai edition includes the 3 fairs which are normally held in Hong Kong:
      APLF Leather: Hides/skins, wet blue, crust, exotic skins, leather, materials, machines, tools, dyes and chemicals for tanning, footwear, leather goods, accessories, garments industries.
      Materials+: Sustainable, functional, woven and natural materials, components. hardware, accessories, machineries, tools and supplies for footwear, fashion industries.
        Fashion Access: A wide collection of fashion goods, including bags, fashion accessories, footwear, garments, small leather goods and travelware.
 

Johannesburg, Gauteng, SA (15 December 2022) – Consumers face an expensive braai season as they enter the December festive with meat inflation at the highest level for this period since November 2017 when it reached 14.9% y/y.
      What underpins the current strength in meat prices? A combination of factors have been at play including the tight supplies due to the pedestrian livestock slaughter, reduced imports of chicken amid higher prices, and the surprisingly resilient consumer demand despite tough economic conditions with the consumer’s financial welfare under strain.
      In addition, livestock producers faced enormous cost pressures emanating from a surge in raw feed input prices that necessitated the cost recovery as profit margins were severely squeezed.
      The price of maize, a major ingredient in feed manufacturing, has so far increased by 43% and 28% y/y for the white and the yellow maize respectively to an average R4,989/ ton and R4,837/ ton. The price of soybeans, a major source of plant protein in livestock feed, so far averaged R10,561/ ton which is 39% higher y/y.
South Africa’s November 2022 consumer price inflation (CPI) surprised on the downside to 7.4% year-on-year (y/y) from 7.6% September, but was still off the 2022 peak of 7.8% y/y reached during July, according to recent data from Statistics South Africa (Stats SA). The monthly CPI slowed by 0.3% month-on-month (m/m) in November from 0.4% m/m the previous month.
      After steadying in October, the food CPI rebounded by 0.5 percentage points in November 2022 to 12.8% y/y and still the highest level since April 2009 but decelerated by 0.5% m/m 0.9% higher month-on-month (m/m).
In contrast, the global food price inflation as measured by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) slowed significantly from the 2022 high of 34% y/y in March to just 0.3% y/y in November 2022 with the monthly prices remaining in negative territory for the past eight consecutive months at -0.1% m/m. Prices were down across the cereals, the dairy, and meat categories which more than offset gains in the vegetable oils and sugar.
      Within the SA’s food CPI subindex, the November meat CPI steadied but still reached the highest level in fourteen months at 10.5% y/y.
      A deep dive into the meat CPI data shows that beef T-bone steak surged by 18% y/y in at R135.48/kg, followed by brisket and chuck with increases of 11.8% and 10.4% respectively y/y. In the pork category, pork ribs and fillet posted modest gains of 3.9% and 2.8% y/y at R94.59/kg and R104.62/kg. However, pork chops fell by 3.8% y/y at R89.55/kg. Lamb chops rose by 4.8% y/y to R195.55/kg. For chicken, prices were up across most categories with an increase of 7.2% at R63.85/kg for fresh whole birds while the individually quick frozen (IQF) 2 kg chicken portions rose by 5.1% y/y at R86.69.
      Nonetheless, we expect some reprieve for consumers early in the New Year as the lower seasonal demand post the December holidays in a tight economic environment with costs of electricity and transport still elevated likely to place downward pressure on meat prices.