Brazil’s tanning industry has posted a sharp decrease in leather exports for June and July, according to the Centre for the Brazilian Tanning Industry (CICB).
The country exported 1.7 million hides in July, the lowest number since March 2009, achieving export earnings of $148.7 million. The value of July’s exports represented a decline of 11% on the previous month.
The total number of exported hides for the first seven months of the year amounted to 16.3 million, up 1% as compared to figures for the same period in 2010. Also, the cumulative value of the 2011 exports show far, $1.2 billion, is 18% higher than last year.
One of the reasons for higher value was that 65.7% of exports were crust or finished leather, said CICB. In 2010, 70% of hide exports were wet blue. After the first seven months of 2011, the proportion of hides that have gone to overseas customers as wet blue was 34.3%, the lowest ever figure.