CHENNA LEATHER MARKET

V. M. Khaleelur Rahman

Chennai leather market is slowly improving. Exporters of leather and leather products are in the market covering their requirements. E.I. tanned and wet blue goat skins are in normal demand whereas sheep skins are slow in movements.  Tanners and traders believe that better days are ahead. 

E.I. Tanned Goat Skins

Local tanners are able to sell their tanned goat skins 4/7 sq. ft. Run/V/IF/LIF combined at around Rs. 80 per sq. ft. , Suedes at around Rs.54 and Linings at around Rs.50 per sq. ft. whereas local Rejection and Langda are sold at around Rs.30 and 25 per sq. ft respectively. But the demand for these local items are limited and not easily movable.

There are also reports of some business in tanned goat skins 4/7 sq. ft. Fifths and Inf. Fifths combined at around Rs. 70 and stout Suede at around 53 whereas H/G Suede at around Rs.43.

Raw Skins

In many centres the prices of raw goat skins are between Rs.140 and 160 per piece depending on quality and selection. Some tanners buy big and better selection skins paying higher prices.

Export Contracts

Some business have taken place for export to Italy and Hong Kong in Upper and Lining leathers at around US$ 2.30 and 1.50 per sq. ft. respectively in good marks.

Japanese customers are slow in doing business. Some small business have taken place in F/C sheep leather All Suede and Rejection at around JY 230 and 140 per sq. ft. respectively whereas S/C sheep leather All Suede has been sold at around JY 260.

Some leading tanners and exporters who made a business trip to Japan recently say that customers are slow in purchases as they are having enough stocks with them.

As far as footwear business is concerned, many leading exporters are able to get orders at considerably lower prices to keep their factories functioning in the present market situations.

Exporters are offering as follows for export:

F/C sheep suede leather

All Suede 5/7 sq. ft. JY245 and 4/7 sq. ft. JY235, per sq. ft. C&F by sea

Rejection Suede 6/8 sq. ft. JY150 and 4/7 sq. ft. JY140 per sq. ft. C&F by sea

Double Rejection Suede 4/7 sq. ft. JY120 per sq. ft. C&F. by sea

F/C sheep lining leather

TR-Lining 4/7 sq. ft. JY155 and 5/8 sq. ft. JY160 per sq. ft. C&F by sea

                                             S/C OR F/C GOAT LEATHERS

Material	Size/sq. ft.	Substance	Selection	Price US$ per sq. ft. C&F
Goat upper leather	3/5 or 4/7	0.6/0.8 mm	ABC/DE	2.30/1.80
Goat milled leather	4/7	0.6/0.8 mm	TR-1	1.70
Goat suede leather	4/7 5/8	0.6/0.8 mm 0.6/0.8 mm	All Suede	2.20 2.30
Goat lining leather	4/7	0.5/0.7 mm	TR-1/2/3	1.50
	6/9	0.6/0.8 mm	TR-1/2/3	1.60

                                                       

                                                                     F/C SHEEP LEATHERS

Material	Size/sq.ft.	Substance	Selection	Price US$ per sq. ft. C&F
Sheep Cabretta leather	4/7	0.6/0.8 mm	ABC	2.40
Sheep Cabretta leather	6/9	0.8/1.00 mm	ABC	2.60
Sheep lining leather	4/7 5/9	0.5/0.7 mm 0.6/0.8 mm	TR-1 TR-1	1.60 1.70

The Hong Kong leather fair is to be held from 30^th March to 1^st April 2016. As it is one of the most important fairs, exporters are getting ready to participate in it with the hope of good results. Some Hong Kong customers who were inactive in the market for more than a year because of some problems they faced there are expected to restart their business during the fair.

(Writer’s e-mail id: vmk1234@yahoo.com)

PRIME MINISTER MR. NARENDRA MODI AT THE SUFI MEET

http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/prime-minister-narendra-modi-at-world-sufi-forum/article8366628.ece?homepage=true

At Sufi meet, Modi lauds Islam as a religion of peace

VIKAS PATHAK

                           

Prime Minister being welcomed by AIUMB founder-president Syed Mohammad Ashraf Kichuachwi at the inaugural ceremony of the World Sufi Forum in New Delhi on Thursday.

The Prime Minister quotes from Koran and makes a strong pitch against terrorism.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Thursday that all Indian communities were an integral part of India, making a pitch for pluralism and diversity.

Mr. Modi was addressing delegates of a global Sufi meet here at a time when shrill statements from many within the BJP and the Sangh Parivar have created controversies in the past few months.

Rejecting terrorism, Mr. Modi hailed Islam as a religion of peace, citing the Koran and also paying rich tributes to the eclecticism of the Sufi tradition.

“Welcome to a people with an abiding belief in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, the world is one family,” Mr. Modi said. Mr. Modi said leaders like Maulana Abul Kalam Azad chose not to side with the idea of division based on religion after Independence.

“This is the spirit of India. This is the strength of our nation,” he said. “All our people, Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains, Buddhists, the micro-minority of Parsis, believers, non-believers, are an integral part of India.”

He sought to draw a parallel between these values and his own policies, saying, “The values of harmony, welfare, compassion and love for human beings are the foundation of a just society. That is the principle behind my creed of Sab Ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas.”

The Prime Minister made a strong pitch against terrorism, underlining that “terrorism divides and destroys us”. “Indeed, when terrorism and extremism have become the most destructive force of our times, the message of Sufism has global relevance,” he said.

“Sufism is a celebration of diversity and pluralism, expressed in the words of Hazrat Nizamuddin Auliya, that every people has its own path of truth, beliefs and focus of reverence. These words reflect the divine message of the Holy Prophet that there is no compulsion in religion; and also that to every people, we have appointed ways of worship which they observe,” Mr. Modi said amid applause.

In reading Islam as a religion of peace, the Prime Minister may, however, have broken with many Hindutva outfits that, academic studies have argued, have tended to highlight Islam as an “invader” in India.

The PM also saw the basic attributes of Sufism among Indian Muslims: “It is this spirit of Sufism, the love for their country and the pride in their nation that define the Muslims in India.”

“They are shaped by the values of the Islamic heritage of India. It upholds the highest ideals of Islam and has always rejected the forces of terrorism and extremism,” he said.

Underlining that Islam is a religion of peace, Mr. Modi said: “When we think of the 99 names of Allah, none stand for force and violence, and that the first two names denote compassionate and merciful. Allah is Rahman and Raheem.”

While asserting that the fight against terror was not a fight against any religion but one between humanism and inhumanity, he hit out at terror as a threat to religion itself. “Terrorists distort a religion whose cause they profess to support. They kill and destroy more in their own land and among their own people than they do elsewhere. Those who spread terror in the name of religion are anti-religious.”

(Courtesy: The Hindu dated 18th March 2016)