Finally the big autumn kill commenced in Ireland in mid September and hides were handled in much greater numbers. The carcase weights were also heavier increasing the number of 36kg+ in the kill. There was strong demand from Italy and also from the croupon cutters which helped keep the price fairly steady during September and into early October.
However the news that a tannery in England may close in October cast a shadow over the hide business which resulted in lower prices being offered for November production. The number of Irish hides gone into UK tanners has decreased steadily since August resulting in Irish hide producers offering big volume into Italy.
This in turn put a lot of pressure on UK hide suppliers as the gap in price between UK and Ireland had been quite big over the past number of months. As a result, prices in England fell markedly and the feeling was that this would put pressure on the Irish market to go lower.
The Shanghai fair proved to be a damp squib in terms of hide sales to China from Ireland, UK and the US. Letters of credit were slow being opened with not much business reported by sellers who attended the fair.
Furthermore, concerns over rising oil prices and higher chemical costs have caused the outlook for business in November and December to be pessimistic at best. All round prices are expected to fall.
Prices at the end of September were as follows:
36kg+……………………………….74p
31/35.5 ………………………………. 84p
26/30.5 ………………………………. 90p
22/25.5 ………………………………. 95p
The big news in September in the UK concerned the changes in the over thirty month scheme for cows; the cow beef from the OTMS cattle will be allowed back into the food chain from November 7. And the final details regarding the re-opening of the export markets are currently being worked out.
What this means is that the hides from these cows will probably be allowed to be exported in the wet-salted state some time in the new year. It is expected that most of these cows will go back into the Italian market. The culled cows were sold in October at £15 per hide.
Doubleface lambskin business was difficult with low demand from Türkiye and Chinese buyers were very wary regarding the UK and Irish type of skin. The price delivered China in September was $5.75. Fellmongers went for $4.
