What happened this week: We could not have been more correct in last week’s view of the market. While the activity in bullhides was very limited' with almost everything being set and done for the coming weeks, we had another larger round of interest from overseas customers for lighter weight dairy cows. So, were our expectations for more activity in the dairy cow market this week fully confirmed?

Buyers started to sniff around and to bid well below asking levels. With bids being refused buyers confirmed at the end on Thursday and Friday asking levels. The weaker € assisted calculations, so that the final revenues where well above what we expected some weeks before and prices are now in line with the quotations for the equivalent material from the USA. However, to avoid misunderstandings: The present level is still well below present abattoir prices and an adjustment of 25-30 % is still required for them to fall in line with the present market levels. Apart from this, sales were limited and only very small numbers changed hands for delivery in September. The main interest was for light weight material from shoe upper tanners.

Of particular note outside the hide business was the renewed interest seen in lambskins from Turkey, where things seem have settled a bit after the uncertainties of the previous weeks. Aside from this, the week was as quiet as one might expect for the time of the year.

The kill: The hormone scandal did not affect the kill negatively. So the level remains low on normal seasonal levels. Hide weights have again risen slightly and it is to be hoped that the worst is behind us. The next three weeks are still school holidays in the North and so everything will remain unchanged.

What do we expect? Not really very much again. We are just watching for now to see if the interest for cows continues. We feel that there is more interest and not too many hides available at the moment. If tanners need many more cows in the next weeks, then they are not anymore readily waiting for them. So prices will not move very much. But an attempt to raise cow prices would not come as too much of a surprise, taking the poor margins into consideration.