The US hide market started the week with some carryover business for packer hides at steady to current market price levels. The overall sentiment in the market is bearish as the cost of operations, labor and material continue at elevated levels and demand has not met the needs of sellers to raise prices. Seller outlook is that hides prices are expected to soften further in the near-term.

Cattle Slaughter Forecast

Cattle slaughter is forecast by The Jacobsen at 630,000 head this week, up 1.9 percent from last week but down 6.2 percent from last year. Cattle slaughter finished last week at an estimated 618,000 head, down 2.2 percent from the week prior and down 7.8 percent from last year. Over the next six weeks, slaughter is forecasted at an average of 624,170 head per week, practically unchanged from the same time period in 2022 and 2021.

Figure 1.

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