Leather and Hide Weekly

As the Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) continues to investigate unfair and unreasonable ocean carrier practices, President Joe Biden designated Commissioner Daniel Maffei to serve as FMC chairman. Plus, LHCA will hold its spring Board and Committee meetings next week. Registration links and a final agenda are available in the Industry Updates section of this newsletter. All LHCA members are welcome to attend the virtual meetings. More on these and other topics below.

Weekly Hides and Skins Stats 

• Net sales of cured cattle hides reported for the period ending March 25, 2021, were 357,600 pieces and net sales of wet blues were 222,900 pieces. Reported shipments of cured hides were 411,100 and of wet blues were 165,400. China was the largest buyer of cured hides and Italy was the largest buyer of wet blues. See more. For historical data, click here. 
• U.S. Cattle Slaughter was 609,000 last week, a decrease of 6.2 percent from the previous week. Total cattle slaughter in 2021 is 8,364,000 head, down 3.4 percent from the same period in 2020. See more.
• USDA AMS Major Packer Hide Price Report provided prices for six types of U.S. hides at six price points with a spread of $24 for branded southwest cows to $44 for Colorado branded steers.  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.    

Industry Updates

• Save the date! LHCA will be holding its spring meeting, including Board of Directors and Committee meetings, next week, April 12-14, 2021. The meetings will be held virtually using the Cisco Webex platform. All LHCA members are welcome to register for the meeting at no charge. Please note, each session requires separate registration, and the links are provided below. The meetings are restricted to LHCA members only.  An agenda is available here.
  • Hides and Skins Committee Business Session Meeting, Monday, April 12, 3-4 p.m. ET
  • Tanner and Environmental Committee Business Session, Tuesday, April 13, 12-1 p.m. ET
  • Marketing and Sustainability Committee Business Session Meeting, April 13, 4-5 p.m. ET
  • Full Board of Directors Meeting and Strategic Planning Session, 12-2 p.m. ET

Latest Updates from Real Leather. Stay Different.

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Other News

• President Joe Biden designated Federal Maritime Commission (FMC) Commissioner Daniel Maffei as FMC chairman, replacing Michael Khouri, who will continue to serve as a commissioner. Last fall, Maffei co-authored a letter to ocean carriers, warning them not to discriminate against U.S. exporters. Maffei also supported FMC's fact finding investigation and rule on detention and demurrage. Read more here. Separately, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg pledged to help resolve the ongoing dispute between ocean carriers and U.S. exporters over container pricing and availability. 
• The Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) last week released the 2021 National Trade Estimate (NTE) Report, the agency's annual summary of trade barriers U.S. exports face in foreign markets. Key barriers detailed in the report include import policies, such as tariffs, import licensing and customs barriers, technical barriers to trade and sanitary and phytosanitary measures. The report finds that import bans and high tariffs constitute some of the principal barriers impacting hides, skins and leather trade. The report is available here.

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.

• Mushroom-based 'leather' is now a scalable alternative to animal leathers, poised for market disruption - Forbes
• H&M features cactus leather in latest collection - Retail Dive
• The race for fashion's leather alternatives heats up - Vogue
• Sustainable startup turns cork and cactus leather into eco-friendly insoles - Sourcing Journal