Prices firm up

During the week ended July 14, prices on branded material firmed as packers were able to maintain the previous week's increases and even advance prices further on some selections. Heavy Texas steers had traded at $61.50 the previous week, but climbed to $62.50-63 for 60-64lb averages. While packers felt confident enough to turn down lower bids, some tanners, many from South Korea, elected to wait for lower prices. Branded steers, also averaging 60-64lb, seemed to perform better than Texas. Prices were established around the $60 mark, with many offers below this level turned down. At the beginning of July, it appears that the whole week's production was sold, the first time this has happened in many weeks. Heavy native steer prices fell at the beginning of July, reaching a low of $66. By mid-July, the category had recovered and was selling well at $66.50-67 on seasonal averages. In early July, branded heifers were sold at around $50, but a week later moved fairly well in the southwest at $52-52.50, although river points only managed $51-51.50. At the beginning of July, a significant volume of Colorado steers was traded at $57 for close in shipment and about a dollar higher for extended delivery. By the middle of the month, Colorado steers sold at around $57-57.50, with demand clearly exceeding supply. The cow sector enjoyed its best trading week for sometime in mid-July. The garment industry appears to have improved, and tanners' inventories fell low enough to generate bids and sales between $48-50 on fleshed processor and packer fleshed Holstein cows. Premium packer productions obtained several dollars more, while Holstein steers found more buyers in Europe than in Asia at $63-64. Branded cows sales were moderate. Exports In the two weeks ended July 14, total raw hide sales averaged 387,700. South Korea took 103,750, Taiwan 53,850, China 49,850, Japan 42,550, Italy 28,650, Hong Kong 22,350, Thailand 20,000 and Croatia took 39,400 in the second of the two weeks. Weekly raw hide shipments averaged 491,100 and outstanding sales were 4,189,850. Wet-blue sales averaged 126,900. Italy took the lion's share at 78,300, followed by Indonesia with 10,650, South Korea with 10,350, Mexico with 10,300, Taiwan with 5,800 and Spain with 3,150. Weekly wet-blue shipments averaged 101,600 and outstanding sales 652,700. Wet-blue splits averaged 1,685,100lb. Italy took 1,267,500lb, China 187,000lb, Mexico 96,500lb, Portugal 50,000lb and Hong Kong 47,950lb. Split export shipments averaged 1,680,000lb and outstanding split sales were 15,805,000lb.