Eyes on skin price trends in Copenhagen

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 32, ISSUE 39, DECEMBER 15, 2008
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
Eyes on skin price trends in Copenhagen
ON THE EVE OF THE OPENING MINK SALE OF THE NEW SEASON, buyers heading to Copenhagen were exuding less urgency than usual for this time of the year and more curiosity as to the market’s direction. Early retail fur sales, which determine how retailers will reorder, have lagged behind expectations, resulting in limited demand for fresh skins to be put into immediate garment production. Add to that the current financial turmoil around the world which has choked credit at virtually all levels, put the brakes on consumer spending and – at least in the United States – is now officially described as a recession.
All of which tends to muddy the prospects for skin dealers and brokers, including the hitherto high-flying operators whose Chinese and Russian accounts have been powering the market until recently. The economies of both of those countries have hit the skids along with those of the rest of the world and the outlook for consumer spending there, particularly for such luxuries as furs, is said to have dimmed considerably.
PREDICTIONS RIGHT ALONG HAVE BEEN THAT OPENING PRICES will be substantially below the levels of the September sales, which closed that season on a strong note. Mink prices on both sides of the Atlantic not only reached historic highs, but also were more than double what they were five years ago. But that was just before the financial meltdown erupted in the U.S. and spread around the world like a wildfire.
The question at presstime was, at what point will buyers begin their bidding – and how low will the auctions let goods go? Kopenhagen Fur, at its sale in February, 2007, anticipated a sharp drop and apparently drew the line at 20% under December, but buyers took only half the offering. Prices edged still lower in North America, where the auctions decided to meet the market, but subsequently recovered.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Eyes on Skin Price Trends
Stronger $ Called Factor
Early Demand Termed Slack
Feb. Auctions Seen Key
Farmed Sables Decline 20%
For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Index. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.
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