{"id":711700,"date":"2026-06-03T03:08:26","date_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:08:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711700\/"},"modified":"2026-06-03T03:08:26","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T03:08:26","slug":"sheepskin-market-dramatically-rebounds-amid-tighter-supply-and-chinese-demand","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/711700\/","title":{"rendered":"Sheepskin market dramatically rebounds amid tighter supply and Chinese demand"},"content":{"rendered":"

A buoyant wool market is driving up the value of Australian sheep skins, reversing the dramatic downturn where worthless skins were dumped in landfill just 12 months ago.<\/p>\n

The upward trend is being fuelled by a spike in merino wool prices and demand from Chinese buyers, who are purchasing more due to low supply.<\/p>\n

Farmers just one year ago were forced to pay meat processors to dispose of the by-product<\/a>, but now can expect some of the strongest prices seen in years.<\/p>\n

Sheepskins are sheep hides that have been treated and preserved with the wool still attached, making them soft, insulating and widely used for things like rugs, boots and clothing.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Australian sheepskins are in demand again. (Olivia Garnett)<\/p>\n

Meat and Livestock Australia (MLA) senior market information analyst Emiliano Diaz said the turnaround was linked to increased demand for wool, which had reached seven-year highs.<\/p>\n

“So, one year ago, the skin value was nearly zero, and some had to pay for the disposal of the skin. Now we are talking about between $30 to $40 for a good merino skin with wool on it,” Mr Diaz said.<\/p>\n

While higher quality merino skins have been commanding the highest prices, crossbred skins have also increased, with values of up to $15, Mr Diaz said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Emiliano Diaz says the wool prices are the best they have been in years. (Supplied: MLA)<\/p>\n

Wool surge lifts skin prices<\/p>\n

Almost all demand for Australian sheepskins comes from China, with an oversupply of skins due to destocking largely to blame for the previously low prices.<\/p>\n

“We are coming from a very high slaughter rate in the last three years, even a record for lamb, very high for mutton, so a lot of supply was coming into the market,” Mr Diaz said.<\/p>\n

“Now supply is short \u2026 so we have less animals being processed so that translates to also less skins available.”<\/p>\n

Mr Diaz said reduced supply had resulted in higher wool prices, which had been the driver behind skin values increasing in the past 12 months.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Australia and New Zealand supply most of the lamb and sheepskins used globally. (ABC Rural: Karen Hunt)<\/p>\n

Australian Hide, Skin and Leather Exporters Association vice president Luke Kivlighon said the change in prices was not a surprise.<\/p>\n

“The merino wool price has got a lot to do with it \u2026 the price has risen rapidly,” he said.<\/p>\n

“It always makes us happy, you don’t want things going to landfill if there is a use and we can get a margin out of it.<\/p>\n

“It’s good to be able to give the farmer something back. It was a dreadful time when they were getting charged minuses for skins.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Most of the sheepskins will be processed overseas. (ABC News: Joshua Becker)<\/p>\n

The industry’s focus continues to be on international markets such as China and T\u00fcrkiye, with little hope of demand from domestic buyers.<\/p>\n

“There’s only probably one or two very small players left doing any sort of tanning,” Mr Kivlighon said.<\/p>\n

“Pretty well 90-plus per cent of our skins would go to China.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Scouring cleans raw wool to remove lanolin and dirt. (ABC News: Kate Forrester)<\/p>\n

Good sign for wool growers<\/p>\n

Wool producers and graziers have welcomed the dramatic turnaround in the skins market.<\/p>\n

Merino breeder Richard Halliday,\u00a0who operates Callowie Poll Merino near Bordertown in South Australia’s south-east, said the skin market had been a “proverbial roller-coaster”.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Richard Halliday runs Callowie Poll Merino near Bordertown. (ABC South East SA: Karen Hunt)<\/p>\n

“We’ve been down to where short skins have had no commercial value,” Mr Halliday said.<\/p>\n

“You’ve got a 17 to 25 millimetre skin now is $30 to $40.”<\/p>\n

Mr Halliday hoped the product continued to be in demand and did not go to waste.<\/p>\n

“Who doesn’t love a nice pair of ugg boots or a really soft seat cover?” he said.<\/p>\n

More news from regional SA<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A buoyant wool market is driving up the value of Australian sheep skins, reversing the dramatic downturn where…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711701,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,345975,345976,345971,345974,345970,31221,345972,345973],"class_list":["post-711700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-how-much-are-sheepskin-worth","tag-merino-sheepskin","tag-sheep-leather","tag-sheepskin-market","tag-sheepskins","tag-wool","tag-wool-growing","tag-wool-production"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711700"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711700\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711701"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}