Availability is key question
He said the quality depended on the husbandry and climate in each of the supplier countries. ‘For example, in hotter climates there were things such as ticks which badly affect the hides. Countries in cooler or more temperate climates provide higher quality hides.
‘In the field of husbandry, barbed wired fences damage the hides so it is not hard to imagine the differences which arise where there are electronic fences or hides produced from cattle reared in feed lots, all of which are of much better quality.
‘The key is to optimise as much as possible the quality of selection of your wet-blue hides.’
Miller said that in Australia there were shortages of hides in winter while in summer they were more plentiful. In the raw material market the question to consider was one of availability.
As far as selling in world markets was concerned Australian wet-blue material was suitable for medium to low leather production. The hides commanded a certain value relative to the finished leather that could be produced from it.
In northern Australia, Queensland for example, more of the hides were sold for upholstery while in southern Australia the wet-blue hides were more suitable for shoe leather.
Most of the volume sales went to Italy and China.
Asked about government assistance. Miller said ten years ago there was an incentive scheme under which every wet-blue hide produced attracted a credit from the Australian Government but this had now lapsed.
Miller said VHSP, who source their hides from Victoria and Queensland, were the largest exporter of wet-blue calf hides in the world. The company processed between 400,000-500,000 wet-blue calf hides a year.
Asked by Leather International how this arose, Miller said Victoria (in the southern part of mainland Australia) was a large dairy state which contained huge herds of cows which produced calves.
New Zealand was similarly a large producer of wet-blue calf hides.
