食品伙伴網訊  據外媒報道，美國牛只產量下跌，導致牛肉減產、肉價上升，皮椅、皮包等牛皮制品價格也在上漲。

    今年年初，由于飼料成本達到歷史最高以及天氣干旱，牛只數量跌至歷年最少。今年，美國牛肉價格升至歷年最高，牛皮制品也出現(xiàn)了類似情況。

    美國農業(yè)部數據顯示，去年美國小牛數量是1949年以來最低水平，而在今年1月1日，美國境內畜牛數量繼續(xù)跌至8,770萬頭，較12個月以前又少了1.8%。丹佛市家畜市場中心的農業(yè)經濟師若博（Jim Robb）估計，今年被宰殺的牛數量將下跌6.5%。

    部分原文報道如下：

    Beef lovers aren't the only ones with sticker shock from the shrinking U.S. cattle herd. Fewer cows also mean tighter supply of hides used in luxury-car upholstery, handbags, shoes and Anita Dungey's dog collars.

    “The last couple of years have been horrendous,” said Dungey, the president of Auburn Leathercrafters, a collar and leash maker in Auburn, New York. Her leather costs rose 83 percent in two years to $8.25 a foot. “It's been hard to keep up,” forcing Auburn to boost prices by as much as 10 percent, the most in at least three decades, she said.

    原文鏈接：<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-13/why-fewer-u-s-cows-means-higher-costs-for-leather-bags.html>