Last week was a short but busy one for U.S. Cow hide sellers. Numerous tanners were in the market last week to buy U.S. Cow hides, and the interest covered all selections. Be it Dairy Cow hides and Plump Native Cow hides for ladies shoes, handbags, or furniture upholstery leathers, or be it Plump Branded Cow hides for the auto upholstery tanners- U.S. Cow hides were in great demand. For sure U.S. Cow hide suppliers sold more hides last week than they had expected to sell in what was a, holiday shortened, four day week. In the process the Cow hide sellers were able to move their selling prices up $1.00 or so from the previous week’s levels on all of their Cow hide selections. And when last week came to an end there were unfilled orders for U.S. Cow hides that were still floating around the market. Things were not as active for those marketing U.S. Plump Steer and Heifer hides, but they were still able to get steady money on the hides they did move. The buyer interest for the U.S. Cow hides seemed to be concentrated in China while the Steer hide sales were spread out more evenly to a number of Asian countries. The number of cattle that packers were able to process last week was well below the 600,000 head level and about what was expected for the holiday week. It was reported that, during the last three months of 2016, Fed Beef processors enjoyed record per head profit margins. One has to expect that Fed Beef packers per head profit margins will remain positive for the near term so we are expecting that weekly slaughter numbers will return to 600,000 plus levels for now. As mentioned above the FOB plant price for seasonal average U.S. Big Packer Plump Steer hides remained unchanged last week. Heavy Native Steer hides were traded at $75.00 per piece and the Butt Branded Steer hide were sold at $72.00 per piece, both prices FOB plant basis. The only Big Packer Heavy Texas Steer hides that were reported to have sold last week were a heavy end selection (Jumbo) at $73.00 per hide plant basis.
The USDA’s Export Sales Report released on January 6, 2017 for sales made during the seven day period ending Dec. 29, 2016, indicated that 356,600 U.S. hides and wet blue equivalents were sold for export during that week. China was the largest buyer taking 232,800 units or just about 65 percent of the total sales.
The Federally Inspected Slaughter (FIS) for the holiday shortened week ending Saturday January 7, 2017 was estimated to be 537,000 cattle, a bit more than the prior week’s 510,000 head processed.
We are now, as of today, back on a regular full work week schedule after surviving the two holiday shortened weeks. We at Braun & Co. are going to head into 2017 with a positive attitude. U.S. Beef packers are entering the year with good operating margins, cattle feeders are making money again and that will we expect trickle down to producers (farmers and ranchers) getting better money for the animals they raise. All this means the U.S. will produce a few more hides in 2017 than it did last year, which is not a bad thing at all. What is needed now is for the leather business to pick up a little so our tanner/customers for U.S. origin hides can get a few more leather orders. It seemed that last year there were just not enough leather orders to go around. We look for the U.S. hide market to start slowly, with Chinese New Year falling early this year on January 27th, then pick up as we move through February.
Golf Quotes
Golf is the “only-est” sport.
You’re completely alone with every conceivable opportunity to defeat yourself. Golf brings out your assets and liabilities as a person. The longer you play, the more certain you are that a man’s performance is the outward manifestation of who, in his hear, he really thinks he is.
– Hale Irwin
