Wet-salted surge continues for US hide exports
18/09/2017
New figures from the US Hide, Skin and Leather Association (USHSLA) for the first seven months of 2017 show that shipments from US packers and traders of wet-salted hides are up by 20% in volume year on year, reaching 14.3 million hides. In terms of value, the increase is 16%, reaching $883.8 million.
Tanners in China (+10%), South Korea (+19%), Mexico (+69%), Thailand (+120%) and Taiwan (+23%) have been buying substantially more wet-salted hides from the US this year.
In contrast, the US’s exports of wet blue have been going down. Between January and July 2017, exports of wet blue fell by 8% in volume to reach just under 3.6 million. Compared to the first seven months of 2016, there was also a 6% fall in the value of wet blue exports, reaching $336.6 million.
As in previous months, the one bright spot for US wet blue is Italy. Italian tanners have bought more than 1.3 million US wet blue hides, an increase of 40%. They have spent more than $125 million on this material, 37% more than in the same months last year.
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