Business Environment Profiles - United States
Published: 16 July 2025
Price of leather
207 Index
4.3 %
The Bureau of Labor Statistics index for the monthly prices received by leather and hide tanning and finishing establishments for their products represents the price of leather. The index has a base of 1981. The annual figures presented in this report are the equally weighted means of monthly averages.
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The price of leather is projected to rise by 1.1% in 2025, reaching an estimated index value 207.1. This increase is primarily driven by heightened costs of chemicals essential for leather processing, such as chlorine and alkalies, which hold greater importance in supply chains as preference shifts toward domestically produced chemicals. The change is partly a response to potential tariff policies in the US, with domestic chemical production facing higher costs due to stricter labor and environmental regulations. These factors collectively are contributing to the gentle upward momentum in leather prices for the year.
The leather market experienced significant volatility from 2020 to 2025. In 2021, as pandemic restrictions eased and downstream industries like vehicle and sporting goods production resumed, leather prices increased sharply by 22.5%. This historic growth reflected a rebound in consumer demand previously suppressed by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, in 2022, rising inflation and higher interest rates limited consumers' discretionary income, especially for luxury goods such as cars and sporting equipment that utilize leather, resulting in a 1.9% price decline. Despite persistent inflationary pressures, 2023 saw a 0.9% rise in prices, largely due to increased consumer spending and higher production costs for leather goods, which prompted manufacturers to expand output to meet demand, although the availability of lower-cost imports capped price growth. In 2024, the leather price index showed a modest gain of 0.6%, as overproduction in chemicals used for tanning and finishing temporarily reduced input costs.
Shifting global dynamics impacted the US leather market over the five-year period. While global demand for leather rose due to population growth and economic expansion in countries such as China and India, domestic demand for unprocessed leather continued to fall as textile manufacturing migrated overseas. Nevertheless, US exports benefitted from robust world demand. Competition from synthetic fibers remained a continuously suppressive force on leather prices, especially as synthetic leather products gained prominence. Crude oil prices also influenced this dynamic, since higher oil costs increase the price of synthetic fibers, driving some substitution back towards natural leather and other animal-derived materials. Animal rights activism continued to present a minor but noteworthy constraint on demand.
The interplay of these trends resulted in only moderate price growth from 2020 through 2025. Structural changes in supply chains, input costs, and competition from alternative materials remain central to price determination. Global economic shifts and consumer responses to inflation further shaped the environment for both supply and demand of leather, leaving the industry with gradual upward price movements but persistent underlying volatility.
The price of leather is projected to rise by approximately 1.3% to an index value of 209.7 in 202...
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