US hide exporters take comfort from China lift
Hide exports from the US in the first eight months of 2023 brought in just $750 million. In the period from January to August, packers, tanners and traders shipped 16.75 million wet-salted hides and a little over 2.4 million wet blue, giving a total of 19.2 million.
The export value of the wet-salted hides was $516.3 million, while the shipments of wet blue brought in $233.3 million, giving $749.6 million in total.
Compared to the same period in 2022, these figures represent declines of 7.1% in volume and of 14% in value.
On a positive note, the new figures showed a recovery in shipments to China, consistently the largest importer of US wet-salted hides. In the first eight months of 2023, Chinese tanners imported almost 11.2 million US wet-salted hides, paying more than $333 million.
These figures show an increase of 12% in volume and of 4% in value year on year.
