February 23

Leather and Hide Weekly

 

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LHCA remains actively engaged in efforts to address the ongoing financial and logistical harm caused to the U.S. agriculture sector as a result of unreasonable practices by ocean carriers and marine terminal operators, primarily at West Coast ports. In response, the Federal Maritime Commission is ramping up efforts to ensure carriers and marine terminal operators are complying with their legal obligations. Plus, the Real Leather. Stay Different. student design competition has entered a decisive stage in Italy, where finalists are developing prototypes of their creations. More on these and other topics below.

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Weekly Hides and Skins Stats 

  • Net sales of cured cattle hides reported for the period ending February 11, 2021, were 356,900 pieces and net sales of wet blues were 192,800 pieces. Reported shipments of cured hides were 308,000 and of wet blues were 128,100. China was the largest buyer of cured hides and Vietnam was the largest destination for wet blues. See more. For historical data, click here. 
  • U.S. Cattle Slaughter was 552,000 last week, a decline of 9.2% from the previous week. Total cattle slaughter in 2021 is 4,502,000 head, down 5.5% from the same period in 2020. See more.
  • USDA AMS Major Packer Hide Price Report provided prices for five types of U.S. hides at six price points with a spread of $13.00 for branded southwest cows to $30.50 for Colorado branded steers.  See more.

Latest Updates from Real Leather. Stay Different.

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Judges have chosen the finalists in the Italian Real Leather. Stay Different. student design competition. Selected students now face the exciting task of making prototypes of their creations. Twenty-three talented students were chosen as finalists from a strong field of participants, and public voting in the competition is now underway. This week, we are featuring Alla Advienko, one of the finalists in the Italian competition and a student a Istituto Marangoni in Milan. Alla's exquisite designs consist of garments inspired by the outfits, culture and mythology of classical Russia and Japan. Get the latest news from Real Leather. Stay Different. here. And, don't forget to:

 

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Monthly Data

  • Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market as of February 1, 2021, totaled 12.1 million head. The inventory was 1 percent above February 1, 2020. Read the report here. 

 

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Other News

  • As shipping issues continue to frustrate the U.S. agricultural supply chain, the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) last week announced Commissioner Rebecca Dye will issue information demand orders to ocean carriers and marine terminal operators to determine if legal obligations related to detention and demurrage practices are being met. The orders will cover carriers servicing the Ports of Los Angeles, Long Beach and New York/New Jersey, as well as terminal operators at these ports. More here.
  • President Joe Biden recently directed the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to lead the nation's COVID-19 vaccination effort, with a goal of distributing 100 million vaccines to Americans in the first 100 days of the Biden-Harris Administration. The Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) has deployed 119 employees to assist FEMA, mainly in Nevada and Oklahoma. APHIS employs highly skilled veterinary medical officers and animal health technicians who have the proper training, experience and certifications to administer these vaccines, and the agency expects to deploy additional staff to more states in the coming weeks. 
  • A newly released U.S. Department of Agriculture report finds implementation of the recently signed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP) agreement, which covers China, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, South Korea and ASEAN countries, is unlikely to stymie U.S. agricultural exports to China in the near future. The report specifically asserts RCEP will have little effect on U.S. hides and skins exports to the region, as import tariffs on most of these products are already quite low. Read more here.

Leather News

Each week, we will share relevant leather news below. Some of the articles may cover our products, and the industry, unfavorably, but we still believe it is important to share the different ways in which leather is presented in the media. If you find articles that you would like to see included, please send them to mschumpp@meatinstitute.org.