China still on mink buying spree

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 33, ISSUE 8, APRIL 6, 2009
The following extract is reproduced with permission from Sandy Parker Reports, Weekly International Fur News. Sandy Parker has been covering the fur industry for more than four decades. For most of that time he has published a weekly newsletter, detailing results of international pelt auctions, wholesale price trends, business developments and movements in the trade, as well as economic and political activities that may impact on it.

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International Fur News
with Sandy Parker

China still on mink buying spree

THE FINANCIAL CRISIS NOW PLAYING HAVOC WITH THE WORLD’S ECONOMIES apparently isn’t putting much of a damper on the Chinese fur trade’s plans for the year ahead. In its final report, Finnish Fur Sales noted that China bought more mink at its recent auction than ever before. At the big Kopenhagen Fur sale that was just getting under way as we went to press, China again fielded the largest delegation of buyers, indicating it would again dominate the room.

“Our sector is a positive exception in the troubled export market,” declared Pirkko Rantanen-Kervinen, managing director of the Finnish auction. “Despite the international crisis, there is a demand for European fur material in the growing Chinese domestic market.” Minks were almost completely sold out at the seven-day sale at prices equal to international levels. The average for all Saga males was $33.06 and for females $22.73. The sale realized an overall total of $120 million. Foxes, however, remained a soft spot, largely reflecting the absence of Russians who have been the largest supporters of this item in recent seasons.

THE EUROPEAN UNION MOVED CLOSER TO A COMPLETE BAN on the trade in all seal products last week, when a decision in that direction was made by the ambassadors representing EU member states. The decision, in Brussels, drew an immediate response from the Fur Institute of Canada, which labeled it a move “for political expediency.” FIC executive director Rob Cahill attacked the decision as one “not supported by either sound science or the EU’s own legal opinion.” The Council of European Member States has voted against its own legal counsel opinion that such a ban is contrary to EU law, he said, and to a recent legal opinion by the World Trade Organization which states that it is contrary to international law.

IN THIS ISSUE:
World Retail Sales Show Dip
Economic Uncertainty Blamed
Consumer Confidence at Bottom
China Still on Buying Spree
Mink Opens Firm in Copenhagen

For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Archive. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.