据外媒报道，美国牛只产量下跌，导致牛肉减产、肉价上升，皮椅、皮包等牛皮制品价格也在上涨。
今年年初，由于饲料成本达到历史最高以及天气干旱，牛只数量跌至历年最少。今年，美国牛肉价格升至历年最高，牛皮制品也出现了类似情况。
美国农业部数据显示，去年美国小牛数量是1949年以来最低水平，而在今年1月1日，美国境内畜牛数量继续跌至8,770万头，较12个月以前又少了1.8%。丹佛市家畜市场中心的农业经济师若博（Jim Robb）估计，今年被宰杀的牛数量将下跌6.5%。
部分原文报道如下：
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.
原文链接：<http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-11-13/why-fewer-u-s-cows-means-higher-costs-for-leather-bags.html>
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