Despite the record volume, the shift in the categories of exported leather hurt revenue.
Author: Marcelo Roschel. Analyst Team: Alcides Torres · Fábio Takaku · Felipe Fabbri · Gustavo Duprat · Isabela Stevanatto · Juliana Pila · Lorenzo Cracco · Mariana Hauschild · Pedro Gonçalves · Rafaela Facchina · Roselena Sestari · Rodrigo de Mundo · Stéfany Souza. Responsible Journalist: Talita Aparecida Peixoto Dias – MTB 0022766/MG. Layout: Bela Magrela.
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Exports in the first half of 2026 hit a record in volume. Shipments reached 324 thousand tonnes of hides and leather. This volume was 6.1% higher compared with the first half of 2025, which had recorded 305.3 thousand tonnes, and 9.1% above the first half of 2024, which had recorded 297.1 thousand tonnes. In June alone, shipments reached 49.8 thousand tonnes, up 23.8% from June 2025 (40.2 thousand tonnes), which reinforced the half-year performance.
Revenue, however, moved in the opposite direction. In the first half of 2026, export revenue was US$539.4 million, down 4.7% compared with the first half of 2025 (US$565.8 million) and 16.4% versus 2024 (US$645.1 million). The average price fell from US$1.85/kg in 2025 to US$1.66/kg in 2026.
Brazil shipped more leather and earned less. The explanation lies in the type of leather that gained share and the one that lost it.
“Leather exports hit a record in the first half of 2026, yet revenue fell.”
The wet blue maintained the lead, accounting for 66.8% of the volume shipped in the first half, versus 70.8% in 2025, a drop of 4.0 percentage points. In volume, it remained practically stable, going from 216.2 to 216.6 thousand tonnes, and accounted for 37.5% of revenue, with an average price of US$0.93/kg in half of the year.
Salted leather was the major expansion highlight. Its share rose from 19.5% to 23.6% of volume, an increase of 4.1 percentage points, with shipments growing 28.3%, from 59.7 to 76.6 thousand tonnes. It accounted for 7.1% of revenue, with an average price of US$0.50/kg.
Finished leather, of higher added value, fell from 7.7% to 6.4% of volume, a drop of 1.3 percentage points, with shipments falling from 23.6 to 20.6 thousand tonnes. Even so, it concentrated 43.9% of revenue, the largest share of the total, generating US$236.8 million, US$42.3 million less than in 2025. The average price was US$11.48/kg.
The crust accounted for 2.1% of volume, up 0.3 percentage point, and 11.3% of revenue, traded at US$9.11/kg.
Leather scraps from 0.1% to 1.1% of volume, an increase of 1.0 percentage point, with an average price of US$0.30/kg and a marginal 0.2% share of revenue.
Finished leather, which alone accounts for almost half of revenue, lost volume and revenue, while salted leather, of lower value per kilo, was the one that grew the most. Thus, Brazil expanded shipments of raw material in less processed stages, which pressured revenue even in the face of the record volume.
China was the main destination, with 130.8 thousand tonnes in the half, equivalent to 40.4% of exports. Despite its lead, its share declined from 43.0% of 2025, with volume practically stable. Nigeria (41.4 thousand tonnes, 12.8%) and Italy (40.0 thousand tonnes, 12.4%) came next, followed by Vietnam (25.9 thousand tonnes, 8.0%).
The most striking movement was Turkey's, which jumped from 8.7 to 23.8 thousand tonnes, up 173.7%, raising its share from 2.8% to 7.3% and absorbing much of the advance in salted leather. The United States, although with a modest volume (5.6 thousand tonnes), generated US$64.5 million, the second-highest revenue by destination, owing to its purchases of higher-value finished leather.
Imports of leather and hides are marginal compared with exports and reinforce Brazil's role as a supplier of raw material. In the first half of 2026, the country imported 31.2 thousand tonnes, up 1.6% from 2025, at a cost of US$28.1 million, down 5.9%. Export volume exceeds imports by more than tenfold.
The import mix is dominated by salted leather, which accounted for 74.6% of volume (23.3 thousand tonnes), followed by wet blue, with 21.8% (6.8 thousand tonnes). This is, above all, raw material destined to supply domestic tanneries.
The main origins in the half were Uruguay with 13.7 thousand tonnes (96.3% of the volume being salted leather) and the United States with a volume of 12.6 thousand tonnes (65.1% of the volume being salted leather and 34.9% wet blue); together they account for 84.1% of import volume.