Things were a little more active in the U.S. hide market last week than we anticipated. We don’t think a whole lot of hides were traded, but still more than we expected, and enough were sold to keep the market on a steady keel. The Cattle slaughter for the New Year holiday week was up a bit from the Christmas week, but well below a full week’s production. The regular weight Steer hide selections that were made available for sale by suppliers were sold at no worse than steady money. Although the premium paid for the “Jumbo” Steer hide selections were small by historical standards some of these hides were also moved by suppliers at prices that were $4.00 to $5.00 per piece higher than the corresponding regular weight selections. Two of the Big Packers did not offer hides domestically but one for sure did put out offerings overseas and we expect they traded at least a few hides. Chinese tanners were again the dominate buyers in the market, purchasing hides and wet blues for arrival after the Chinese New Year holidays. The value of seasonal weight Big Packer quality Heavy Native Steer hides remained in the $72.00 to $73.00 per piece FOB plant range. While, seasonal weight Big Packer quality Butt Branded Steer hides were reported to have sold at $71.00 per hide plant basis, which is at the high end of the prior week’s sales range. Seasonal average Big Packer Heavy Texas Steer hides are being traded in Asia at price levels that, depending on how a seller calculates expenses, would convert to $64.00 to $65.00 per piece FOB plant. All the U.S. Cow hide selections continued to find buyer interest. The Dairy type Cow hides were the most sought after, with prices on these Spready hides being on the firm side.
The Export Sales Report released by the USDA on December 31, 2015 for the week ending Thursday December 24, 2015 stated that 404,000 cattle hides and wet blue equivalents were sold for export during that week. This number is up from the prior week’s reported 366,600 pieces sold. The big buyer was China which purchased 185,500 hides and wet blue equivalents or a little more than half of the total sales reported. Italy, the second place buyer, purchased 84,800 units of which almost 95 percent were wet blues.
The Federally Inspected Slaughter (FIS) for the week ending Saturday January 2, 2016 was estimated to be 439,000 cattle, up slightly from the previous week’s estimated 402,000 head. For the same week last year the FIS number was 455,000 animals. The Federally Inspected Slaughter for 2015 was down 5.1 percent or 1,514,000 units from 2014.
No excuses- everyone needs to be back at it this week. The Christmas and New Year Holidays are now a memory, and we can say that the suppliers of U.S. Raw hide and Wet Blue hides got through the past two, holiday-shortened weeks just fine. They may not have sold in big numbers, but they did not produce big number either so their sold forward positions most likely did not change much. The hides and wet blue that were traded during the holiday weeks were done at prices that were steady to slightly higher than pre-holiday levels. It is expected that the FIS will move back up this week, but the recent big jump in fat cattle prices is expected to limit slaughter somewhat. Our guess for this week is that U.S. Steer raw hide and wet blue suppliers should not have a problem selling their seasonal weight selections but that getting historical premiums for their “Jumbo” selections will not be possible. Just too many heavy cattle still in the slaughter mix. All U.S. Cow hide suppliers should be in well sold ahead position and will be asking higher prices on whatever they have to sell this week.
Wishing a Happy, Healthy, Prosperous, New Year to all!
Golf Laws
It’s not a gimme if your still 4 feet away.
Nonchalant putts count the same as chalant putts.
The shortest distance between any two points on a golf course is a straight line that passes directly through the center of a very large tree.
