US hide exports to China fall by 25%, as Italy buys more wet blue
Figures for the first eight months of 2022 have confirmed a downward trend in US hide exports, in terms of volume and value.
Between January and August this year, packers, traders and tanners in the US exported 20.7 million hides, bringing in total revenues of $871.3 million.
Compared to the same months in 2021, these figures represent a decline of 10% in volume and of almost 4.5% in value.
In the first eight months of this year, the US exported a little over 18 million wet-salted hides with a value of $590 million. Volume was, therefore, down by 11%, while the decline in value was 5%.
The figures for wet blue showed an export volume of almost 2.7 million hides, with a value of $281 million. This means a fall of 6% in volume, and of 3% in value.
As usual, China was by far the biggest market for US wet-salted hides, but shipments there fell by 25% in volume and by 16% in value year on year.
Italy maintained its position as the biggest export market for US wet blue hides and, in fact, increased by 21% the volume of wet blue hides it brought in, paying 18% more in total.
Image: Tasman Leather Group.
