benlilly1 Report post Posted July 15, 2012 Just thought I would ask if anyone else is concerned about leather prices going up due to the weather? The midwest is in dire need of rain. We have water usage bans here in Indiana. Food prices will be increasing. Corn and bean crops here look very sad. I figure the trickle effect will influence leather prices. I think I might stock up. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bdt46 Report post Posted July 15, 2012 Drouth and high priced feed costs have already caused a large decrease in the cost of beef cattle! If the cattle market is down then so should be the cost of leather as it is an aftermarket of the beef industry. Guess I'll just keep buying leather whatever the cost! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
bluesman1951 Report post Posted July 17, 2012 That may be a issue or at least part of one . My leather guy claims China is buying raw skins in such huge quanties that buying any large amount of raw skins is very hard . With the closing of tanneries due to EPA regulations the only way to get stuff tanned is to send it out of the country Canada and Mexico . Buying from Brazil is a bad move now as the dollar exchange rate is horrible . China can buy tons of raw skins and sails to international waters tans the skins with no EPA looking at them .Converts it to finished goods and sails back into the port of Los Angles and unloads finished goods .How do we compete with that ?You have not lived until you have seen the merchandise Mart in LA.One building covering a whole city block and just story upon story high with thousands of stores whole floors dedicated to just one kind of merchandise . The only way to stay in business is to increase your talent to a level where buying 10.00 per square foot leather does not matter. Or quit all together and buy China stuff and sell like WalMart . I have been looking for a way to quit for years ,give this up and make canvas bags where they sell material by the yard and not by the foot . LOL I dont have a crystal ball so predicting any thing is just wishful thinking . I can tell you this there are people here with million dollar piles of stuff struggling to stay afloat with no customers and rents in the 30,000 per month range . Been bad here money wise for 12 years . Our economy just sucks ,should be on life support . Bluesman1951 Just thought I would ask if anyone else is concerned about leather prices going up due to the weather? The midwest is in dire need of rain. We have water usage bans here in Indiana. Food prices will be increasing. Corn and bean crops here look very sad. I figure the trickle effect will influence leather prices. I think I might stock up. C Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kevinhopkins Report post Posted July 17, 2012 Hi... Actually, prices are beginning to soften just a bit.... The chinese are not as aggressive in their purchases of leather as they were. We starting to see a small bit of relief in the way of special purchases, and things like that. cost on some double shoulders has dropped a bit. It might take a while for prices to get lower for you tho, because so many of us in the supply chain have absorbed cost rather than try to pass it on. So we need to catch up a bit. But I think that for the most part leather should be staying about the same, or perhaps getting a little lower here and there. The drought thing definitely has the potential to be a factor tho. Hopefully it will just start raining!!! Kevin Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
