Hide prices were limited in movement today, with the exception of Heavy Native Steers (HNS) trading at $43 for regular weight material. Interest from the automotive and furniture leather tanners continues worldwide. However, shipping material is still very difficult especially out of the west coast US to Asia. Additionally, there have been reports that feeder ships in China are not being serviced with no explanation.

Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED) was released for October 2020 reporting retail auto sales in the US at $106.6 billion—up $18.5 billion from the 2015-2019 October average. Historically, October is a slower sales month as the year’s models are in low demand at the end of the year. However, this year following the recession, auto sales have remained at all-time highs since June and have tracked close-to-steady each month. Hide prices for material used in the automotive upholstery have similarly seen a robust recovery and are beginning to see stabilization. Heavy Native Steers (HNS) rose 77 percent from April’s low to a monthly average in November of $33.78. In addition to the slower auto demand, hide buying in the winter is historically slower, due to the lower grain quality. At this time, prices have likely reached their ceiling and it is reasonable to expect hide price stability at current levels as long as there are no further pandemic disruptions to consumer spending.

Figure 1.

Today’s Trades

Packer Sales

HNS 66/68 @ $43.00 OR 0.5000
HNS 66/68 @ $40.00 OR 0.4650
BS 62/64 @ $27.00
BS 70 MIN @ $28.00
NHNC 51/53 @ $18.00 OR 0.2700

Processor Sales

HNS 66/68 @ $32.00 OR 0.3725
BS 62/64 @ $23.50
NHNC 51/53 @ $12.50 OR 0.1875