Up to the final quarter, demand for Japanese made upholstery leather and soaked up declines seen in other sectors such as footwear and leathergoods. Sales of calf and kip leathers decreased sharply down 56% at 608,000 m2.
According to Kozo Tokunaga, chairman, Tanners’ Council of Japan, automotive and furniture upholstery leather tanners saw a 30% fall in orders by volume in November compared with January to October and they believe that ‘the miserable’ conditions may continue at least for the remainder of 2009 and possibly into the first half of next year. Production at many Japanese domestic car plants and their foreign subsidiaries has decreased significantly since the end of last year.
Cattle hide imports into Japan totalled 904,000 pieces compared with 1.3 million in 2007. Wet-blue imports were also down 8.5% to 3.2 million pieces. Brazil (32% share) and Australia (19%) remained Japan’s major sources of wet-blue stock which were mainly destined for upholstery leather.
The Tanners’ Council of Japan’s report was given to ICT meeting which took place at HKCEC in Hong Kong, March 30.
