US Perspective—04.02.20
Courtesy of The Maxfield Report www.themaxfieldreport.com
Last week in the big packer trade saw packers continuing to lay claims of possessing strong sold-forward positions, supported by reports from members of the trade that offer lists for the most part appeared unchanged from the previous week. Meanwhile, last week saw tanners around Asia closed observing their Lunar Holiday and as expected, there were not many bids for sellers to consider, leading to thoughts that last week was a lost week of trading, as there were only a few isolated pieces of business concluded.
Elsewhere, in the cowhide trade, producers also continue to lay claims of possessing decent sold-forward positions. Offer lists appeared as if they were a carbon copy of the week prior. As to interest last week, as expected, there were not many reports of bids, while the few buyers willing to share their price ideas appeared as if they at least had the initial intention of attempting to bid prices lower.
The number of hides changing hands was well below the harvest; it is highly unlikely that we saw producers sell their production last week. The good news is in terms of prices; it appears as if trading levels were steady with the week prior.
In the meantime, the big news in Asia is the Coronavirus and the impact it is having on the country of China, as well as other countries around the world. We are already hearing about requests from tanners to delay shipments of hides as they are not certain when they will be able to reopen their tanneries. We may start seeing a noticeable increase in the number of hides offered in the very near term.
