As Christmas approached the seasonal decline in kills kicked in and by the week commencing December 18, cattle numbers fell off rapidly. This coincided with tannery shut down and during the period in between Christmas and the New Year the abattoirs killed on only one day.
The bad weather before Christmas and the actual timing of the holidays meant that many haulage companies were unable to pick up hides before the end of December. This was due to a combination of cancelled boats and drivers’ holidays.
As a consequence there was a build up of hides in salting yards at the year end. Tanneries seemed unconcerned about this and it is being taken as an indication that prices for hides will ease. The reports from tanners is that business is there but at lower levels. No sales had been made during the first week of January but there were plenty of discussions.
One reason for hide prices maintaining their levels at the end of December is due to a large supplier of salted Irish hides to Italy deciding to exit the business. As a consequence some Italian tanners sent their agents to try and obtain the hides directly from the abattoirs. This gave the impression of a very healthy demand for hides from Italy and some abattoirs thought that they had managed to beat the system. However, the Italian tanners remained true to form and the claims came rolling in to the abattoirs. Some things never change.
Prices for 36kg+ weakened slightly on the back of good supply but the other weights were steady and in the case of 31/35.5 up a little. The prices were as follows:
36kg+ ……………………………………………………. 86p
31/35.5 ………………………………………………..…. 92p
26/30.5 ………………………………………………… £1.08
22/25.5 ………………………………………………… £1.10
Cows steady at £26.50 per hide ex yard.
Hoggets were steady during December with fellmongers at £1.70 but doubleface came under pressure with deals done at £3. Suppliers in Ireland were hit with the demise of an English based trader not paying for skins shipped during the back end of the year. This has left a bad taste in the mouths of all concerned.
