Kill levels remain below 2003

In the four-week period ended July 30, federally inspected slaughter amounted to 2,439,000 head, down from 2,922,000 a year earlier. According to the USDA, the US cattle poplation as of July 1, 2004, was 103.6 million head, just 1% lower than the 103.9 million head of the previous year. For the second month running, South Korea pushed China into second place as the major export destination for US raw hides, taking 683,700 from the four-week total of 1,731,100. China accounted for 360,100 with Japan in third place with 163,300. Back to the Greater China area, Taiwan bought 150,800 and Hong Kong a further 140,200. The remaining hides were shipped as follows: Mexico 112,300; Thailand 47,500; South Africa 27,300; Dominican Republic 8,600 (also customers for wet-blue); and Canada 2,000. Italy took 19,700 skins in the period under review and Türkiye 5,200. Hong Kong was the biggest customer for wet-blue, buying 153,700 over the four weeks. Taiwan took a respectable 64,700 with Italy not far behind with 60,600. China accounted for 50,300 with South Korea as the next biggest buyer with 26,100. Lesser buyers included Mexico with 18,400, Thailand with 17,800 and Japan with 5,600. When it came to wet-blue splits, 4,734,100lb were traded over the period under review. China took the greatest volume with 1,750,700lb, followed by Mexico with 1,438,800lb. Other buyers included Italy with a sizeable 978,000lb, Hong Kong with 616,400lb, and South Korea with 182,100lb.