The 18th edition of The All China Leather Exhibition (ACLE) will take place in the face of volatile raw material prices and uncertain if not challenging economic conditions that have led to a 40% fall in hide prices in nine months. One year ago, ACLE took place just as prices were approaching their historical highs but this year’s fair will be held after some of the sharpest falls seen in hide prices for many decades.
Nevertheless, despite a complex market and economic background, ACLE continues to be China’s leading event for the domestic and international leather supply chain. It will continue to reflect the prevailing market conditions as a professional business platform from where to penetrate China’s huge leather sector.
Sustained growth has characterised ACLE since its launch in 1998 and this year there are 1,044 exhibitors from 37 countries and regions occupying a gross exhibition area of 92,000 square metres. The Organisers expect some 20,000 visitors to pass through the fair from all over China.
At the Shanghai New International Expo Centre, Pudong, ACLE will cover 8 Halls (E1 – E7 and N5).
Change of dates
We take this opportunity to remind the media and leather sector why the dates of ACLE were changed this year.
The State Council of the central government of the People’s Republic of China declared the days 3 - 5 September 2015 as national holidays to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the Chinese people’s victory in the Anti-Japanese War and the World Anti-Fascist War.
As this public holiday would overlap with the originally planned dates of ACLE 2015, the Organisers, following consultation with the Chinese Government and the market, were able to move the dates of ACLE 2015 to 31 August - 2 September (Monday – Wednesday).
The aim was to prevent any disruption of the fair and guarantee the opportunity to the thousands of Chinese buyers that attend this event to source supplies for their upcoming collections on normal working days and at the same time cater to the needs of the exhibitors participating at ACLE.
The Organisers can confirm that the 2015 fair dates will remain the same for 2016 – that is 31 August – 2 September.
Talk of a slowing market
Despite forecasts of a slowing economy in China for 2015, latest GDP figures indicate that the economy continues to grow at a healthy and fairly robust 7% on an annualised basis.
Let us not forget that China is still the hub of the world leather industry producing billions of pairs of leather shoes (4.5 billion pairs in 2014) and leather goods per year. To do this the China leather industry needs to import leather and according to the latest report by the China Leather Industry Association (CLIA) China imported a total of US$8.24 billion of leather of all types in 2014 (raw hides, crust, wet blue and finished).
In a digital presentation in December 2014, Chairman of the CLIA, Su Chaoying, stated that China’s leather industry would process 200 million hides in 2015 of which half, 100 million, would have to be imported. These huge numbers offer western companies multiple opportunities to do excellent business with the China leather sector.
Latest figures issued in late July for the first five months of 2015 by the China National Council of Light Industry indicate that the revenue growth of the leather sector as a whole was 5.77%. Compared to the same period of 2014 leather making grew in this period by 2.44%; leather footwear by 4.45%; luggage and bags by 5.98%.
Add to these figures that China is the world’s biggest auto market by far, selling more than 23 million vehicles in 2014, 40% - 50% of which have some form of leather upholstery, this amounts to a great deal of hides and finished leather.
These are solid figures from a sector that was supposedly slowing and losing production to competing countries in South East Asia. They could also be an indicator that buyers from China’s main manufacturing provinces will be active at ACLE especially now that prices have fallen sharply compared to one year ago or even compared to early April when ACLE’s sister fair, MM&T, came to a successful close in Hong Kong.
The 18th edition of ACLE will once again reflect the international nature of the leather industry with the presence of 20 group pavilions including Australia, Brazil, China, Ethiopia, France, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Korea, Pakistan, Spain, Taiwan, Turkey and USA.
Spain represented by its tannery association Acexpiel has increased its participation by 10% as have the Brazilian associations – the CICB and Assintecal. After its resounding success as Focus Country at APLF 2015 France has boosted its participation by 50% and the USA in its USHSLA pavilion has taken 7.7% more space.
These major pavilions will be joined by at least 26 new exhibitors from various countries as they seek to penetrate China’s market that requires supplies and raw materials to feed its massive production lines.
Besides the international halls there are hundreds of Chinese companies at ACLE which form an integral part of the supply chain of the industrial oriented side of leather, footwear and leathergoods production. The fair is renowned for the number of new products launched primarily by chemical suppliers and manufacturers evidencing the importance ACLE enjoys in the context of China’s leather industry. To complement the trade fair there are a series of seminars and special events aimed at keeping all participants conversant with fashion and technology developments.
Special Event – Leather Forum
APLF, as part of the leather industry and serving it by organising commercial business platforms, is fully aware of the value offered by professionally run events that offer facts and opinions from leather industry experts.
With volatile market conditions, especially in the hide and raw materials sector since April, resulting in a crash in hide prices, market and supply / demand data is useful for making business and purchasing decisions. Such information was presented in yesterday’s Leather Forum.
The Forum was entitled: "Do Supply and Demand Still Matter?" and it was held at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre on Sunday, August 30, 2015, on the eve of the All China Leather Exhibition.
The discussion focused on three main aspects of supply and demand:
• Where will the markets go from here?
• When will leather regain its lost market share from substitutes?
• Educating the public on the value of upholstery leather.
The Leather Forum was organised jointly by APLF Ltd, Hidenet and Logical Media Consultants (LCM) and took place under the umbrella of the LeatherNaturally! campaign.
The sponsors of the Forum were PrimeAsia and Alps Chemicals Pvt Ltd.
For those who missed the Leather Forum there will be a chance to catch up by viewing the post-Forum video on-line which should be extremely useful for posting feedback after ACLE 2015.
This year’s ACLE could well be a barometer of the mood and outlook for the leather industry in China for the remainder of 2015 and we are confident that the fair will fulfil its role by reflecting the market and the business activity taking place in the coming three days of the event.
We wish you all a fruitful ACLE!