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The leather and skin industry is hunkering down in the face of the crises of the past two years. The sector is doing well, thanks in part to the luxury industry.
No animal today is bred for its leather. Meat consumption therefore has a direct impact on the availability of hides and skins used to make bags and shoes, but also on their price. The main producers of skins are the United States and Australia, renowned for the size of their herds, and where meat consumption is not in decline, unlike France, the world’s third largest exporter of hides and skins. .
The tightest market, that of calfskin
In France, slaughterings have been decreasing for 30 years: 30% less for large cattle, 60% less for calves and 50% less for sheep, according to figures from the National Leather Council. High quality skins are becoming increasingly rare in France. The tension is felt in particular on the calfskin market: during the first half of 2022, the average price of skin purchased in Italy, the Netherlands or France thus increased by more than 15%.
In the first months following the pandemic, many tanneries were closed in China and Italy, stocks accumulated, but in the end business picked up very quickly thanks to demand in Italy, Spain and Turkey, not to mention speak only of the Mediterranean basin, and the sector has been able to reconnect with its pre-Covid statistics.
The luxury sector absorbs the rise in production costs
The good health of the hides and skins sector is closely linked to that of luxury. Leather goods made in France, for example, are increasingly popular on the Chinese and American market. Luxury absorbs increases in production costs more easily and targets a clientele that is itself less sensitive to these increases. On the top of the range, prices are less discussed, explains Frank Boehly, president of the National Leather Council.
Until now, the sectors upstream of the leather sector, in particular those working the raw material, have been spared the war in Ukraine, but the tanneries located in Europe are no exception: they are like all companies, from increasingly subject to rising energy costs. The “drying” stage (dehumidification of the skins) is indeed energy-intensive, explains Sophie Hivert, general delegate of the French Federation of Mégisserie tannery.