Hide interest remains firm for cow and some steer selections, but shipping continues to cause delays and cancellations for all sectors of the leather supply chain. Additionally, the spread of the new coronavirus Omicron variant is a risk to continued leather demand. The demand for beef is strong, but labor shortages have slowed the slaughter production lines in attempt to keep facilities at a limited capacity. Negative hide price pressure remains. 

U.S. Export Sales & Shipments for Week Ending November 18

USDA Cured Hide and Wet Blue Export Sales Recap

For week ending November 18, export sales for 2021 marketing year decreased 28 percent to 473,604 from 660,290 and shipments decreased 13 percent to 426,267 from 533,373. Sales for marketing year 2021 totaled 23,660,000-mostly all hides. The average year-to-date weekly trends for federally inspected slaughter were 641,816, total export sales were 514,348 and total…