Market Report 10.01.2025

What happened this week

The start to the new year continues to be very quiet. This does not come as a particular surprise, as the situation in Europe remains very difficult and people in Asia are preparing for the holidays at the end of this month. This means that there is still only very selective interest and greater activity will probably only develop again when the discussions about the new delivery programmes in Europe are due in the coming weeks. Asia remains a mystery, as it is still not at all clear what the leather industry there is planning for the coming months. There are simply too many uncertainties, especially in China. The change of presidency in America naturally plays a decisive role here. In general, however, we are also hearing that some larger sports shoe manufacturers are scaling back their orders and plans for the coming period moderate slightly from the previous year’s announcements and plans. In the furniture industry, the current season is actually already almost over, even though production should still be running at full capacity for another 2-3 months. However, since the order volume of previous years was never reached anyway, it doesn’t really matter. Business in the automotive industry has been sluggish and no major impetus is to be expected here either. In China, the weak development of the Chinese currency is also playing a major role, and when all of this is stirred into a cocktail, it is hard to believe that any major surprises or positive developments are on the horizon. The next major and possibly decisive event is the next Lineapelle fair in Milan. By then, the holidays in Asia will be behind us, the new president in America will be in office and in Europe there will be no avoiding the fact that the industry will be taking a serious look at its plans for the future. Whatever that means in the end. The news today that there have been cases of foot and mouth disease in a small buffalo herd in eastern Germany is very problematic and annoying. We can only hope that the necessary measures are taken immediately to prevent the disease from spreading and remain an isolated case. That would of course be fatal for export sales opportunities. Sales this week were again limited to random transactions and it was again not easy to synchronise price ideas from buyers and sellers. Somehow, a certain paralysis has spread across the market in every respect. This applies not only to buying and selling activities, but also to price developments.