Raw materials
Colorado steers 60 –
50 – 40 – 30 – 20 – 10 – 0
1020304050 Weeks
Dairy cows 45 –
35 –
2021 2022 2023
25 –
2021 2022 2023
For the most part, customers wanted the hides but few, if any, would pay more. Their reticence made efforts to push levels higher challenging and mostly unfruitful. Chinese customers in particular had little appetite for higher prices, in part driven by the poor RMB/dollar exchange rate.
15 –
By the start of August, steers were well sold and packers were trying to get more. They had been able to firm prices over the course of a couple of weeks but could not really move the overall market higher. Small price improvements were still challenging to accomplish, and it was a battle over $0.25–0.50 to close a sale at higher levels. Ultimately, some selections managed to make gains. Butt branded steers and heavy native steers rose in price by a few dollars. This was thanks to automotive sector customers who increased their purchases, but other steers selections remained steady and did not come up in price that much. Overall, business to buyers in Mexico for automotive was very good, also boosted by the stronger peso against the dollar.
5 – 0
1020304050 Weeks
Heavy native heifers 50 –
40 –
2021 2022 2023
30 – 20 – 10 – 0
1020304050 Weeks
Heavy native cows 40 –
30 –
2021 2022 2023
20 – 10 – 0 – 0
1020304050 Weeks
Purchasing for some other sectors had picked up a little, although how much was for orders and how much for warehouses was the big question. As always, China has been the biggest buyer, accounting for about 80% or more of rawhide export sales for several weeks. In this case, one source said that “money is cheap and so are hides”, which could be driving the sales of good quality hides at still-low prices. Sources pointed out that the price of cured hides also depends on the quality of the selection and even the plant of origin as well as the buyer. As is the case everywhere, low-quality material is tough to sell and faces a lot of competition from South America and other regions. With regard to wet-blue, those purchases were also higher in July, but as one seller pointed out, the year-to-date total is still lagging. In addition to good forward positions, sellers could also thank lower slaughter for the firmer market. As noted above, the US cattle herd is smaller and cattle on feed numbers are lower. Moreover, beef prices were declining, putting packer margins in the red, so they were not motivated to increase weekly slaughter. As Europe departed for vacation and the US market entered its usual period of summer doldrums, sources felt that prices would consolidate over the coming weeks. The next indications for market changes would likely come from the results off the All China Leather Exhibition at the end of August. ●
30 Leather International /
www.leathermag.com
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