In today’s market, tanners in China purchased steer hides at prior levels and bought other steer hides at slightly lower values. Regular-weight Heavy Native Steer (HNS) hides traded sideways today, whereas regular-weight Colorado Branded Steer (CBS) hides traded down $0.75/piece from last reported levels.

Hide sellers shared most bids for steer material that were received were under current market prices so they will counter their business tonight. Sellers expect more trading activity to conclude tomorrow or after the weekend.

The USDA export sales figures for the week ending January 25th, were strong, as detailed below. Chinese buyers represented 68.6 percent of the total cured hide sales for the week, while Mexican tanners represented 2.6 percent of the total cured hide sales. Tanners in Mexico continue to be relatively inactive in the market due to depressed automotive lather demand.

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