Market Report 27.03.2025

What happened this week

Nothing really wants to change in our market and perhaps the most interesting development of the week was the news that there is some movement in the export of animal by-products to China. The information policy of the responsible German authorities once again leaves more than a little to be desired, but as all the operators concerned are making great efforts in all areas and there is also good cooperation in the matter, a picture often emerges before the authorities actually ensure that the economic operators are sufficiently informed from the official side. A solution now seems to be emerging for goods that have already arrived in China, provided that it can be proven that the goods left the country before the outbreak, which can be guaranteed in almost all cases. It may still be necessary to test the goods for the pathogen. It seems very likely that corresponding instructions will be issued by Beijing to the port authorities at the beginning of next week. For new exports, everything seems to be heading towards the regionalization already applied in Europe, but the corresponding new certificates still have to be agreed and published. The recent cases of foot-and-mouth disease that have occurred in Hungary and Slovakia are of course not making the talks and negotiations any easier. We can only hope that the spread of the disease can be stopped quickly and that other countries and regions will not be affected. Business has been rather quiet again this week. It seems that slaughtering in Germany is unevenly distributed. While the north and west are actually still producing very good and normal quantities, there are reports from the south that the kill is significantly lower. This naturally means that certain types of hides are not available in the planned quantities, while others are available in too large quantities. How could it be otherwise, it naturally affects precisely the hide types that are still in high demand, while the market for the lighter and female types is anything but easy at the moment. Of course, everyone involved is now trying to derive the best results for themselves. This in turn means that the correlations between the individual main prices are becoming less and less appropriate. Without the business in Asia, we are now waiting for the new deals in Europe, which will have to be discussed again in the coming weeks. If the market in China and also in Korea reopens in the next few weeks, this would take some pressure off the market and the detour of some hide types into the production of collagen could possibly turn around somewhat. There has been little change in prices this week either, but this is probably more due to the fact that there were few deals to base price trends on.