None of the U.S. cattle hide selections rose in value last week. The U.S. Plump Steer hide selection’s sale prices were steady with the prior week’s levels, or down by a maximum of $1.00 per piece. The U.S. Dairy Cow hides were the only U.S. Cow hide selection to trade at a higher level last week, as the value of both Native and Branded Plump Cows dropped by as much as $1.00, depending on the origin. Many of the U.S. hide suppliers reported they were able to market a good number of raw and wet blue hides, but most in the trade would not say they feel a week’s production had been moved. Many of the tanner’s who were in the market, and there were a respectable number of them, were looking to buy hides at lower levels. But, suppliers were strong enough in their convictions to hold the actual sale prices at no more than $1.00 lower on all selections. Slaughter of cattle in the U.S. remained relatively steady last week with the previous month’s weekly levels, as expected. The USDA’s export sales number for raw and wet blue hides reported for the week ending on Thursday September 14th was again a respectable number, if not a huge one. Tanners last week continued their lamenting that there are just not enough leather orders around to make them feel positive about their business. We are told that, with less leather to buy, leather buyers can be tougher on price, pitting one tanner against another. We will call the FOB plant value of the U.S. Big Packer Heavy Native Steer hide at the close of last week $58.00 to $61.00 per piece, which is down $.50 from our previous week’s estimate. We are saying that the FOB plant price for the seasonal average Big Packer and equivalent Butt Branded Steer hide on Friday of last week was $54.00 to $55.00 per hide. We are putting the market price of the seasonal average Big Packer Heavy Texas Steer hide selection at between $47.00 to $49.00 FOB plant basis, which is down $1.00 from our prior call.
The Export Sales Report released by the USDA on September 21, 2017 for the week ending Thursday, September 14th indicated that 572,900 whole hides and wet blue equivalents had been sold for export during that 7 days. China was credited with purchasing 338,600 or almost 60 percent of the product sold.
Federally Inspected Slaughter (FIS) of cattle for the week ending Saturday September 23, 2017, was an estimated 637,000 head. This number is down 5,000 animals for the prior week’s FIS number. Year-to-Date FIS is estimated to be up 5.9 % from a year ago.
This is the last week before the full-blown Autumn Holidays began in Asia. Have tanners there purchased enough raw material to feel comfortable about what their ownership will be when they reopen after the holidays? Or, will they be looking to purchase some more raw hides or wet blue this week? At the same time, most of the U.S. hide suppliers will be gathering in Chicago this week for the “United States Hide Skin and Leather Association” annual meeting, which will be held on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Not that those suppliers won’t be offering their products this week, and of course they will be available for their tanner/customers who may be interested. Our feeling is that many tanners do not have a lot of raw hides purchased and will have interest in such going forward. But, for now, they will continue looking for lower prices to average down the value of their raw material ownership.
Golf
Men are strange: they’ll gladly walk thirty-six holes of golf but won’t get up to get a beer at home.
A recent survey showed that many men are claiming that golf has replaced sex as the American sport. Of course, over 70 percent of the men polled were over sixty-five.
