US Perspective—13.08.19
13/08/2019
www.themaxfieldreport.com
Reports from the big packer trade claim the offers of most packers last week were a repeat of the week prior. As to asking prices, according to sources, it appears packers opted to leave them unchanged, as it was widely agreed and supported by last Thursday’s USDA Export Sales Report that the week prior was not a particularly busy week of trading.
A combination of a lack of offers and firm price ideas from packers kept most buyers on the sidelines last week. Overall, we are not aware of any of the traders laying claims to seeing a large number of bids.
Early reports from Asia claim tanners there remain somewhat perplexed by the market, especially considering the only hide market that appears to be firm as of this writing is the US big packer market; they are confused as to why the rest of the world’s hide markets are not following.
Shoe tanners continue to lead the way with enquiries; however, there were still a few upholstery tanners also seeking offers last week. A number of tanners appear as if they are frustrated about offers of US big packer hides and not being able to buy what they want. It is not clear whether they are buying to cover outstanding leather orders, or taking advantage of prices that they perceive as affordable, or a combination of both. Tanners continue to say business is slow and remain very concerned about leather orders for the remainder of the year, especially the fourth quarter, keeping in mind the price of hides is increasing, while leather prices on new orders are not increasing.
Reports from the cowhide trade claim that, as expected, offers last week were little different from the past few weeks; the majority of offer lists continued to have more than ample selections for sale, with the exception of HNDC. The price ideas of producers remain unchanged; they appear to have no intention of accepting prices any lower than their last traded levels.
As to interest last week, based on the conversations we have had, we are not aware of many members of the trade laying claims to enjoying a large number of bids last week.
A fire at the Tyson facility in Finney County, Kansas, means there is a good chance we will not see Tyson offer any hides this week as it assesses where it stands and how it will move forward. We suspect competing packers may also be reserved in offering this week as they too assess the situation. This news means we will see roughly 30,000 hides taken out of the equation every week for the next few months.
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