March 3rd

Leather and Hide Weekly

The Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) last week released an infographic that shines a light on the environmental costs of using synthetics, made mostly from plastics and other non-renewable sources, as opposed to real leather in finished consumer goods. The infographic has been shared widely on social media, with international leather associations and with domestic and international media. We encourage you to share the infographic with your networks as well. As a reminder, China's Ministry of Finance on March 2 began accepting tariff exclusion requests on nearly 700 U.S. product imports, including raw cattle hides that represent the majority of U.S. hides exports to China. Plus, LHCA has brought its Real Leather. Stay Different. global design competition to the UK. More on these and other topics below.

 

cows

 

Weekly Hides and Skins Stats 

  • Net sales of cured cattle hides reported for the period ending February 20 were 368,600 pieces and of wet blue were 123,900 pieces. Reported shipments of cured hides were 327,300 and of wet blue were 176,000. Thailand was the largest buyer of cured hides and Vietnam was the largest destination for wet blue. See more. 
  • U.S. Cattle Slaughter was 627,000 last week, down 0.2 percent from the previous week. Total cattle slaughter in 2020 is 5,394,000, one percent above 2019 levels. See more.
  • DA AMS Major Packer Hide Price Report provided prices for seven types of U.S. hides at eight price points with a spread of $4.50 for branded southwest cows to $34 for butt branded steers.  See more.

Industry Updates

  • As you might have seen last week, the Leather and Hide Council of America (LHCA) released a new infographic that shines a light on the environmental costs of using synthetics, made mostly from plastics and other non-renewable sources, as opposed to real leather in finished consumer goods. The infographic shows that nearly 5.5 million U.S. cattle hides, or 17 percent of total U.S. hide production, were either destroyed or discarded in landfills -- a number that will likely rise if trends continue in the use of synthetics to produce finished goods in place of real leather. Those 5.5 million discarded or destroyed hides could have instead been used to produce leather for approximately 99 million pairs of shoes, 110 million footballs or two million sofas, for instance. The infographic, which has been shared with global leather industry associations and the media, is available here. 
  • LHCA is in the process of planning its Spring Board of Directors Meeting, which will be held April 23-24, 2020, in Washington, DC. The LHCA Executive Committee and Board of Directors will meet in the morning on April 23. All LHCA members are invited to participate in committee meetings beginning at 1 p.m. on April 23. A reception and dinner, open to all LHCA members, will follow the committee meetings at 7 p.m. on April 23. All LHCA members are also welcome to attend the meeting on the morning of April 24, featuring general presentations and program updates. LHCA staff will soon be in touch about hotel details for the meeting. Click here for a draft agenda of the meeting. For more information, contact Stephen Sothmann or Michael Schumpp. 
  • You are invited to become a member of Leather Naturally and to make a contribution to the organization's METCHA leather marketing campaign. The Leather and Hide Council of America is an associate member of Leather Naturally, and supports the organization's initiatives, which focus on leather education and promotion. For more details about Leather Naturally membership, click here.   
  • The Leather Research Lab at the University of Cincinnati announced it will host several educational opportunities in 2020. The Lab will once again host its popular, two-day Leather Orientation Course April 8-9, 2020, that will cover a wide range of leather-related issues, including physical structure, species identification, hide supply, wet-end and finishing operations, regulations, testings and customer acceptance topics.  The course costs $985 per person, with a discounted price of $885 for additional participants from the same company. Meanwhile, the Introduction to Leather Testing Workshop will be held August 19-20, 2020, and is designed for individuals that need a comprehensive understanding of both the theory and application of standard test methods used in the leather industry. The cost to participate in the workshop is $1,250 per person. Contact Louisa Passano at 513-242-6300 or passanlb@ucmail.uc.edu for more information and to register for one of these courses. Additional details are available here.
  • The APLF-Leather, Materials+ and Fashion Access show, originally scheduled to take place March 31-April 2 in Hong Kong, will be postponed until June 1-3, 2020, due to concerns regarding the novel coronavirus outbreak. More information is available here.   

 

cows

 

Other Trade News

  • The Foreign Agricultural Service published a GAIN report describing the new tariff exclusion process that China announced on Feb. 18, 2020. As we previously reported, China is currently accepting tariff exemption requests on nearly 700 U.S. imports, including on raw cattle hides larger than 16 kg (HS Code 41015019), which represent the majority of U.S. hides exports to China. Several Chinese tanners, in coordination with the China Leather Industry Association, are already in the process of applying for tariff exemptions on qualified imports. LHCA members are encouraged to work with their Chinese importers and customers to apply for the tariff exclusion. The GAIN report detailing the latest tariff exclusion process is available here. 
  • The Trump administration last week delivered to the U.S. Congress the President's 2020 Trade Policy Agenda and 2019 Annual Report. The report highlights progress made on certain trade issues in 2019, and details the Administration's trade policy priorities for 2020, which include implementation and enforcement of the U.S.-China Phase One Agreement and the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.  

Latest Updates from Real Leather. Stay Different.

Leather Catwalk

 

The Real Leather. Stay Different. global student design competition kicked off in the UK, as LHCA and Leather UK partner to find the best British leather design talent. Learn more about the UK competition here. Get all your design competition news at chooserealleather.com. Plus, check out our video here showcasing the first round of competition in China.        

Leather News

Each week, we will share relevant leather news below. Some of the articles may cover our products, and the industry, unfavorably, but we still believe it is important to share the different ways in which leather is presented in the media. If you find articles that you would like to see included, please send them to mschumpp@meatinstitute.org.