Bulletin

The EU-Mercosur FTA negotiations have gone through ups and downs and still it is not clear whether they are going to conclude and deliver.

After four months of consecutive decline, Brazilian exports of hides and skins totalled 16.1 million sq m in November, up +16.6% compared with the same month in 2017.

The weekly USDA data for the week ending December 6 showed some inconsistencies in the text.

Some good news for the trade comes from China, insofar as a number of pending contracts with delayed opening of L/Cs (letters of credit) or deposit payment have finally been addressed.

Recent figures from Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) indicate that Australia’s cattle on feed reached a record figure of more than 1.1 million head at the end of third quarter of 2018.

Demand for new passenger cars in the EU fell -8% in November, marking the third consecutive month of decline across the region.

The picture of the local market remains the same as the past few weeks, with salted hides in great difficulty due to availability of fresh hides and reduced tanning.

There is disagreement among local market observers on how the hide market fared last week.

The market of New Zealand lambskins is stuck at low levels, where it has been for the past several months.

During a post-G20 summit meeting in Buenos Aires, the U.S. President, Donald Trump, is said to have agreed not to increase tariffs on US$200 billion of Chinese goods from 10% to 25% on January 1, 2019.