There have been widespread reports for some time of hide prices reaching historical lows in the mid-2020s.
Demonstrating the point in a graphic way, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) has confirmed that US cow hides are now selling for $1 per piece.
Several times a month, USDA publishes a major packer hide report confirming current prices of steer and cow hides from different parts of the US. Its report for May 8, 2025, includes an entry that reads: branded south-west cow hides, each weighing 50-52 pounds (22.7-23.6 kilos), with a weighted average price of $1 per piece.
USDA explains that this is the free-on-board (FOB) price for a fleshed and cured cow hide.
Records in USDA’s current format for presenting these figures only go back to late 2017. For reference, in December 2017, a branded cowhide weighing 50-52 pounds cost between $28 and $30.
Prices were low at the start of this decade, falling to $4 in January 2020. But by the end of that year the price had risen again to $11.50. Then they fell to $7 by the end of 2022 and moved by only small values between then and the end of March this year.
Following the announcements on tariffs that US president, Donald Trump, made on April 2, USDA reported no new cowhide prices for most of the rest of that month. By May 8, clearly, the impact of high tariffs on exports of the raw material had begun to be reflected in rock-bottom prices.
A 90-day pause on the punitively high tariffs on products moving between the US and key cow hide buyer China may now move the price up from $1, but the official documented evidence shows how stark the market reaction was.
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