Hide Market

“What can go wrong?”  Well, last week showed us that things could get worse.  The week started out poorly for U.S. hide sellers, even with hide prices at levels not seen since God knows when, some tanners continued to bid lower.  Early in the week, to move any volume, U.S. Steer hide marketers had to lower their selling prices by $1.00 or more per piece.  At the same time demand for U.S. Cow hides seemed to be rather subdued.  Sales prices on the Cow hides that were moved were steady to down … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – May 13, 2019

There was very little activity in the North American cattle hide market last week.  It is normal for the week to start slowly for the hide market, with a little Monday morning carryover business that gets put together. Supplier’s offers go out late Monday and on Tuesday and then tanner/buyers began to look at those offers and then they start their bidding on Wednesdays.  The result of this process is that most of the business that gets done is put together on Thursdays and Fridays.  Last week’s … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – May 6, 2019

With the U.S. hide market remaining in the doldrums last week and showing little signs of life, we found time to read David Peters’ blog regarding the state of the international hide and leather markets.  Everyone involved in the U.S. hide and leather industries surely knows David well, and we think most involved in the global hide industry know David as well.  If you have not read his recent blog, then you should- it can be found at www.LeatherBiz.com.  There are some efforts being made to … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – April 29, 2019

There appeared to be a good number of bids for U.S. hides placed by tanners last week.  The problem was that the majority of those bids for U.S. Steer hides were at levels well below last traded levels.  On top of that, the quantities of the bids being placed were for a small amount.  When considering a bid, sellers look at both the price and quantity of the bid and take both into consideration.  A low-priced bid may not, on its own, be attractive to the supplier.  But a … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – April 15, 2019

Things got off to a slow start in the Hide Market last week. Offer lists put out by U.S. Steer hide suppliers early in the week contained, in most cases, less quantities or fewer selections, depending on the supplier. Asking prices on those offer lists were either unchanged from the prior week or in some cases down $1.00 per hide.  We did not hear of any U.S. Steer hide suppliers asking ‘up’ money.  There were some Cow hide suppliers asking for higher prices on certain Cow selections, … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – April 1, 2019

There were some U.S. raw and wet blue hide suppliers, including a couple of Big Packer sales people, still traveling in Asia last week.  They were following up on the work they had done at the Asian Pacific Leather Fair in Hong Kong the week before last.  Those travelers’ thinking was that tanners would have a better idea of their raw materials need after the show than they would before it, which sounds logical.  However, we heard nothing last week regarding the results of those … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – March 25, 2019

The Asia Pacific Leather Fair came and went last week leaving the hide market unaffected.  Reports from U.S. hide suppliers who attended the leather show in Hong Kong appeared to come away with similar opinions.  Those opinions being that the show was well attended. There were few reports of U.S. raw and wet blue hides changing hands during the show.  The U.S. steer hides traded, other than those rumored to have been moved by one of the Big Packers at lower prices, were at steady … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – March 18, 2019

There was good number of the world’s raw and wet blue hide suppliers calling on their tanner customer in Asia last week.  One would expect that a fair amount of trading took place during those visits.  And, in fact we did hear that some business was put together, but it is difficult to predict just how much product changed hands.  There were reports from a number of those travels that their tanner customers told them they were going to hold of on buying any raw material until or … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – March 11, 2019

THE HIDE MARKET – February 25, 2019 U.S. Big Packer raw and wet blue Steer/Heifer hide offering lists last week were similar in both volume and price to the prior week’s lists.  Processors’ offering lists were a bit more mixed with sellers asking more, less, or steady money, depending on selection and origin.  Initial bids from tanners were well below what we would consider steady.  In response, U.S. hide suppliers countered those bids at price levels that were either equal to, … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – February 25, 2019

Activity in the U.S. hide market started slowly last week, but by week’s end, there were a fair number of tanners in the market bidding on U.S. raw and wet blue hides.  There were some sales reported at “up” money on a few of the more sought-after selections from preferred origins.  The Heavy Native Steer hide was the Steer hide selection that saw the biggest jump in value, moving up by about $1.50 per piece.  At the same time, a few Butt Branded Steer hide sellers were able to … [Read more...] about The Hide Market Report – February 18, 2019