Bulletin

The news from one Italian commentator is that tanneries are feeling the squeeze. They are having their finished order books cut by both the fashion industry and the automotive industry; the former due to a downturn in consumer demand, the latter due to the semi-conductor shortage, which has almost completely halted production in some cases. 

Both the U.S. secretaries of Transportation and Agriculture have sent a joint letter to the leading ocean freight hauliers about the current shortage of containers and space. Some West Coast ports in the U.S. have seen services either stopped or reduced over the past year, causing a bottleneck at their preferred ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles. 

Lower beef demand from the export and domestic markets, has resulted in slaughter rates being cut further. According to the official governing body (SENASA), November saw one million head of cattle go to market, which is down 6% on October and 23% down on the corresponding period of 2020.

The final sales of 2021, for delivery in the early part of this year gave promising optimism for hide traders. The heavier weight ox hides were sold to Italian tanners at stand on price levels, although it must be said that there were unconfirmed reports of lower offers being accepted by UK abattoir groups.

The first hide and skin auctions of the year have taken place across Spain. The results are a mixed bag to say the least. At two of the three locations the majority of the ox-heifer and cow hides were down in price, but the third location is completely bucking the current downward price trend, to return price increases across the all selections and weight ranges. 

The squeeze on prices for both cured and wet-blue exporters continues, the main problem for the whole of 2021 was the lack of slaughter numbers, all of the major hide supplying regions in South America reported below normal levels, which meant that the price for green material remained artificially high, on top of this tanners were unable to run their plants at full capacity, and so were being double hit financially. 

Fresh Covid-19 outbreaks in China, which is trying to enforce a zero infection policy, has resulted in many tannery closures and severe labour shortages. There are reports that some tanners have already closed for the Lunar holidays, either by choice or by enforcement. 

The first couple of weeks for 2022 have shown that there remains much uncertainty within the local and international hide market. Chinese tanners are very slow in coming back on offer lists and often counter with bids that are too low, and so negotiations stop before they have really even started. A few containers of cowhides have been sold at stand on price levels to the Far East, but that really is all. 

Volatile local currency exchange rates against the US dollars during December weighed heavy upon the Turkish market. The Turkish Lira went from 18 against the US dollars to 7.5 almost overnight, only to regain about 50% of lost ground, and recover back to 10.5 lira to the dollar.

There are fresh reports of tanners re-selling hides within China, either hides that are located at tanneries or held at the destination ports. The hides held at the ports are easier to sell apparently as the receiving tanner prefers unopened containers (no trust among some tanners).