Leather and Hide Weekly

If you haven't yet seen LHCA's new sustainability video, be sure check it out here. Meanwhile, on the trade front, the Federal Maritime Commission is taking steps to investigate ocean carrier practices related to detention and demurrage charges. More on these and other topics below.

Industry Updates

• APLF announced that the annual APLF Leather trade show, co-located with Fashion Access, originally scheduled to take place in November 2021 has been rescheduled to March 2022 in Hong Kong due to ongoing COVID-19 travel restrictions. The show will now take place March 30 - April 1, 2022. More here.

Latest Updates from Real Leather. Stay Different.

From Ancient Egypt and Greece, through the Middle Ages and Industrial Revolution, to today, leather has a long and celebrated history. Our latest blog post chronicles leather's evolution from a material that aided human survival to one that sets fashion trends and graces runways around the world. Get the latest news from Real Leather. Stay Different. here. And, don't forget to:

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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.

• Leather Working Group, Textile Exchange create partnership - Sourcing Journal
• Vegan leather is the next big thing -- and Sylven New York is at the forefront - Entrepreneur Magazine
• BMW invests in vegan leather aiming to lower carbon emissions - 92.9 NIN 
• Crocs pledges to go completely vegan by the end of 2021 - The Beet
• Is leather bad for the environment - The Urban List

Monthly Data

• The Monthly Livestock Slaughter report is now available. June 2021 cattle slaughter totaled 2.95 million head, up 3 percent from June 2020. Review a summary of the data here.
• Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market as of July 1, 2021, totaled 11.3 million head. The inventory was 1 percent below July 1, 2020. Read the report here.

Other News

• LHCA joined a coalition of 33 food and agriculture industry organizations calling for the prompt confirmation of Kenneth Salazar to serve as U.S. Ambassador to Mexico. Read the letter here.
• The Federal Maritime Commission informed the top nine container liners operating in the U.S. that it will immediately begin auditing how customers are billed for detention and demurrage charges. Read more.
• Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack named Daniel Whitley the new Administrator of USDA's Foreign Agricultural Service, where he has served as Acting Administrator since December 2020. More here.

Weekly Hides and Skins Stats 

• Net sales of cured cattle hides reported for the period ending July 15, 2021, were 355,800 pieces and net sales of wet blue were 278,300 pieces. Reported shipments of cured hides were 525,500 and of wet blue were 185,600. China was the largest buyer of both cured hides and wet blue. See more. For historical data, click here. 
• U.S. Cattle Slaughter was 652,000 last week, a decrease of 0.2 percent from the previous week. Total cattle slaughter in 2021 is 18,596,000 head, up 4.6 percent from the same period in 2020. See more.
• USDA AMS Major Packer Hide Price Report provided prices for four types of hides at four price points, with a spread of $22 for both branded southwest cows and branded cows to $34.50 for dairy cows. See more.
  • The USDA price report is a snapshot of the market. For real time hide market prices, please consult our friends at Hidenet, The Jacobsen, The Maxfield Report, or The Sauer Report.