A new Leatherbiz Market Intelligence report, the last one for 2023, went live on December 12. It focuses intently on the new EU Regulation 1115/2023 on deforestation.

The newsletter made it clear that the new regulation’s proposals, as they stand, would make it “almost impossible to place bovine hides on the market in Europe”. It said many people in the leather industry still seemed “relatively relaxed” about this because it is hard to imagine how the new regulation could be implemented. “What is being demanded is far removed from any feasible reality, and there are still no implementation guidelines at all,” it explained.

However, Market Intelligence also sounds a warning note, pointing out that anyone who is familiar with the EU will know that “there is no way these proposals will simply be swept off the table”. The likelihood is that, whatever happens to EU Regulation 1115/2023, a new bureaucratic burden will emerge, putting additional pressure on the production of leather in Europe, with more cost, more administration and more complications.