We finally got through the year-end holidays here in the U.S. and the hide market surprisingly has held steady for these past two weeks. The amount of trading last week was limited, and it appeared to us that there was more interest in Cow hides than there was for Steer hide last week. Heavy Native Steer hides sold steady at USD 34.00 to USD 35.00 per piece FOB plant. Heavy Texas and Butt Branded Steer hides also sold steady at USD 35.00 per piece. All the Cow hide selections were fairly active this past week, with prices steady to as much as USD 2.00 higher on a per piece basis. We assume it was the historically low prices that created the interest in Cow hides, but whatever created the interest, packers and processor were able to sell and ship a lot of inventory. That inventory had been such a burden on suppliers the industry in late November and early December.

The Export Sales Report number issued by the USDA on January 2, 2009 for sales made during the week ending Thursday December 25, 2008 showed 406,900 hides and wet blue equivalents sold for export. The big buyer was China/Hong Kong taking 227,100 pieces for the week.

The Federally Inspected Slaughter (FIS) for the week ending January 3, 2009 was a holiday-reduced 507,000 head. The slaughter for the same holiday week last year was 532,000 head.

Although we still have the Chinese lunar holidays yet to come, the overall sense of the market is that it is grounded at least for the time being. USDA export sales numbers these past two weeks are a direct result of the holidays, and it will likely be sometime in February, after the lunar holidays, that we really get any feel for the future direction to the hide market. In the meantime, we have to face reality and that is that most of the American hide suppliers still have inventories of hides that are above normal. This factor alone should have a heavy influence on any sustained price rise for hides in the near term. For the potential of a further drop in hide prices, that also seems to be limited, since we have dropped prices so low already. For some selections, these prices are the lowest we have seen in 30 years or more. As a result of the above, the market appears to be somewhat in balance, and so for now and for the near term we predict a steady hide market.

MR. MULLIGAN SAYS

1. Never wash your ball on the tee of a water hole.

2. An extra ball in the pocket is worth two strokes in the bush.

3. No putt ever got longer as a result of a ball being marked.