Declines for US hide exports, except in shipments to Italy
US hide exports have continued to fall in volume and in value.
In the first nine months of this year, packers, tanners and traders exported almost 23.2 million hides, with a combined value of $970.1 million.
These figures represent a decline of 12.4% in volume and of 7.6% in value compared to the first nine months of 2021.
This year’s figures show shipments of 20.25 million wet-salted hides, worth $661.3 million, down by 13% in volume and by 8% in value.
For wet blue, the figures for the January-September 2022 were volumes of 2.9 million hides and a value of $308.8 million, down by 11% in volume and by 7% in value.
In the figures, there are a handful of positives. For example, Italian tanners’ acquisition of US hides is still going up. In the first nine months of this year, they imported more than 900,000 US wet blue, an increase of 5% year on year.
Italy has also bought substantially more wet-salted hides from the US this year. Between January and September 2022, the US shipped 268,000 wet-salted hides to Italy, compared to just 60,000 in the same period last year.
