The latest Market Intelligence newsletter went live on June 18 and is available in full in the Intelligence section of the website. By Leatherbiz.

This time, it says that the result of the recent elections to the European Parliament could provide hope that some policies with the potential to affect the leather sector could be delayed or shelved. The newsletter quotes the European Deforestation Regulation (EUDR) as an example.

One reason for this speculation on the part of Market Intelligence is that voting in a number of member states appears to have shifted away from the parties most in favour of a green agenda.

It says policies, including EUDR, that collectively make up the European Green Deal programme, may have “pleased the social mainstream”. But their effects “have never really been understood by the political bureaucracy,” the report continues.

It could take until some policies that have already been approved come up for review for meaningful change to happen.

In further speculation, it says there may be observers who think the objective in Brussels in pushing regulations like these is “to get rid of unpopular industries”.

But it warns that what may work in EU countries that have little or no leather industry left will trigger “a completely different reaction” in countries where leather still plays a significant role.

Here, the most prominent examples are Italy and France, where the leather industry is not only a major employer, but also an integral part of the value chains that are of huge importance to the national economies, thanks to the luxury goods industry.