Rising US shoe prices blamed on herd numbers

Fewer US cows means higher footwear prices, says the US government.

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics (BLS) has released a report indicating that while clothing, jewellery and watches all went down in price during 2014, footwear in the USA cost 2.8 per cent more. According to the BLS, this is likely the result of increasing leather prices due to a shortage of cattle in the US driving the country’s leather processing costs to an all-time high.

The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) has estimated that there are some 95 million cows currently in the US – the lowest number since the USDA began recording cattle numbers in 1973. The USDA states that in 2013, the USA was the world’s largest producer of cattle hides, just ahead of Brazil. Many analysts blame drought and the recent high cost of cattle feed for the waning US cattle population, and say than despite feed prices dropping, a nine-month gestation period and the two years required for an animal to reach slaughter weight means that the bovine population will take some time to rebuild.

Publishing Data

This article was originally published on page 4 of the March 2015 issue of SATRA Bulletin.

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