October figures confirm US hide export surge
The Leather and Hide Council of America has confirmed hide export data for the first ten months of 2021, confirming the large increases in volume and value that have dominated the picture for most of the year.
Between January and October, packers, traders and tanners exported 30.7 million hides. The corresponding figure for the same months in 2020 was 20 million, which means there has been an increase of 53.5% this year.
Making up the 2021 volume were 27 million wet-salted hides, up by 53% year on year, and 3.7 million wet blue hides, an increase of 59%.
In terms of value, the total so far for 2021 is a little under $1.2 billion. Wet salted hides brought in $808.8 million over the ten months and wet blue $376.2 million, increases of 73% and 59% respectively.
China has been the dominant market, absorbing 65.2% of total wet salted shipment volume and 61% of total revenue from wet salted hides.
Italy imported more wet blue than China, with just over a million hides compared to China’s 982,200 over the ten months, but China had a slightly bigger share of wet blue value, spending $104.6 million on US wet blue hides, compared to Italy’s $104.2 million.
