Declines continue for US hide exports
The Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) has published figures for hide exports from the US in the first half of 2023.
In the first six months of the year, tanners, traders and packers shipped 14.5 million hides, bringing in export revenues of $565.4 million.
These figures represent a fall of 8.8% in volume compared to the same period last year and a decline of 16.9% in value.
The total number of wet-salted hides shipped was 12.7 million, a fall of 8%. These hides earned revenues of $393.2 million. Wet-salted exports were, therefore, down by 8% in volume and by 15% in value.
For wet blue, exporters registered shipments of 1.8 million hides in the first half of this year, earning $172.2 million, falls of 13% in volume and of 21% in value.
There were very few positives in the figures that LHCA presented, but they did include an increase in the volume of wet-salted hides exported to China. More than 8.3 million wet-salted hides went to China from the US between January and June, an increase of 8% year on year.
