There were grumblings in the US hide market in the week ended Friday August 2 about a packer that offloaded a large volume of cured hides at discounted prices into Asia, as well as buyers that walked away from sellers’ counters to low bids.

Also, market participants were increasingly concerned about leather demand amid recent reports of a bearish macroeconomic environment.

The US Labor Department reported that job growth slowed in July, and unemployment reached 4.3%, the highest level since October 2021.

Consumer affordability continued to be a huge strain on the leather industry — it led to poor sales in several leather-consuming sectors and weaker hide demand. Fastmarkets’ analysts expect depressed hide prices to persist while weak consumer affordability remains an obstacle.

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