Hide buyer interest was moderate but at low prices on Wednesday May 15, according to several US sellers. Most buyer bids for steer hides were a few dollars below last traded levels, while cow hides were several dollars down.

Fastmarkets assessed the heavy Texas steer, heavy branded heifer, Colorado branded steer, branded bull, kip skin and small packer hide markets at unchanged prices from last traded levels.

Sellers reported most bidding interest was from Chinese tanners, particularly in the shoe sector of the leather market.

A few large shoe tanners were interested in large volumes of hides, but at lower than last traded prices. A seller said that some of their shoe tanning customers had recent issues with late payments from leather buyers.

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