War and illness affect business

Everywhere we turn we face trouble, strife and illness. The war is ongoing in Iraq, Asia is afflicted with atypical pneumonia which seems to be spreading slowly through to other parts of the world and the Hong Kong fair has been rescheduled with no guarantee that it will be held this year. Currencies are fluctuating on a daily basis, making forward selling very precarious indeed. In Ireland the leading group of tanners, the Ronan Group, announced that they were suspending tanning for a period of one month and that they would review the situation in due course. We all hope that this is a temporary problem and that tanning will recommence shortly. In the meantime, 100 employees have been affected by this lay-off which was due to a combination of a poor order book and the war in Iraq, allied to high green prices demanded by the slaughterhouses. Kills have been low in Ireland and the UK on the back of low demand for beef. One sometimes wonders where it will all end. No doubt in tears. The shortage of hides has pushed the prices up further and the inbalance between raw and salted prices has increased. Some plants have been paid more for green hides than can be recovered in the salted state. The overwhelming sentiment between buyers and sellers is that the market must come off the current highs and economic common sense be brought back into play. Prices for raw hides during the first week of April were as follows: 36kg+ ……….............……... 97p 31/35.5kg …................…… £1.07 26/30.5kg ……................… £1.13 22/25.5kg ……................… £1.20 Cow prices stayed steady at £25 per run cow in the salt, ex yard. Tükiye and Poland retreated from the market for a combination of factors: low percentage of doubleface, poor quality of doubleface at the end of the season and the uncertainty caused by the war with Iraq, particularly for neighbouring country Türkiye. Fellmongering skins went for £3.80 ex yard. Meat plants expect to get e10 for their new season lambskins and refuse to believe hide yards who warn them that their expectations are too high. Time will tell who is right and who is not.