China dominates but Q1 figures show big growth in US hide exports to Europe
21/05/2014
Headline figures show that US packers exported almost 10% more fresh or wet-salted hides over the three-month period than they did in the same three months last year. The volume for the first quarter of this year was over 9.5 million hides, compared to 8.7 million a year earlier.
In terms of value, the fresh hides exported in Q1 this year brought in more than $470 million, up by 6% compared to the corresponding figure for the first three months of 2013.
For wet blue, the overall figure for exports in the first three months of 2014 was just under 4 million, up by 16% year on year. In terms of value, US tanners recorded export earnings of $224.1 million for the three months, an increase of 18%.
Other points of note concerning exports of raw hides are large volume increases in exports to a number of key markets, including the European Union (EU) and the Dominican Republic, where tanning and footwear production have grown substantially as finished product brands search for alternative manufacturing locations to Asian countries. Manufacturers in the Dominican Republic can export to the US quickly and duty free.
China was still the most popular destinations for raw hides; US packers shipped 5.8 million pieces to China (including Hong Kong) in January, February and March 2014. This figure represents more than 60% of the total and a year-on-year increase of 11%. However, at more than 630,000 pieces, shipments of raw hides to the EU went up by 93% compared to the same months in 2013. The increase in shipments to the Dominican Republic was almost 1000%, albeit from a low base.
For wet blue, again China was the biggest market, with 37.5% of all exports (almost 1.5 million from a total of just under 4 million hides) going there, a volume increase of 6%. The EU was the second-most important market for US wet blue over the quarter; US tanners shipped more than 825,000 wet blue hides to Europe for finishing, an increase in volume of 36%.
The biggest factors that commentators have pointed to in explaining the increase in shipments to Europe are the lower value of the US dollar in currency exchanges, which is making US raw material cheaper and European raw material comparatively more expensive. At the same time, increased production of automotive leather, for which US hides are popular, is continuing.
There were lower totals but sharper increases in the volume of wet blue hides going from the US to Vietnam (up by 82% to almost 600,000 hides), to Thailand (up by almost 650% to 209,500 pieces), to Uruguay (more than doubling to 40,000) and to Japan (up by more than 400% to 27,000).
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