Furs fairs see optimistic preparations for next season

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 30, ISSUE 7, APR. 3, 2006
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
Furs fairs see optimistic preparations for next season
LITTLE MORE THAN HALFWAY THROUGH THE AUCTION SEASON and the schedule of international fur fairs again finds most of the world’s markets preparing optimistically for next fall-winter. That the preparations are more aggressive in some parts of the world than in others reflects the continued expansion of such ‘new markets’ as China, Russia and other Asian and Eastern European countries. The optimism is based largely on fur’s still-growing popularity in the fashion picture and, in the newer markets, the emergence of consumers with disposable income for the first time. Although the same optimism abounds in the West, it is being tempered for budgetary reasons, namely the further price hikes that have taken place at the skin and garment levels.
ORDERS WRITTEN AT ALL OF THIS YEAR’S FAIRS TO DATE – including those in Beijing, Hong Kong, Frankfurt and Milan – have been described as ahead of last year’s and larger than expected. To be sure, a good part of those increases were accounted for by the developing markets, which have come through an excellent retail season with depleted inventories. They are reported to have bought more in terms of both value and units. Moreover, these buyers – at both the skin and garment levels – have been showing greater interest in quality and fashion. In contrast, where orders placed by Westerners exceeded last year’s in value, it was generally because of the higher prices; if they bought more units, the likelihood is they were smaller, less expensive furs, including accessories.
For the third consecutive year, Russians were the largest buyers at the Hong Kong and Milan fairs and, along with China, have been a major factor in pushing up skin prices at the auction level.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Trade Views Outlook as Bright
Sees Increase in 2006-07 Season
Russia, China Are Main Sparks
Mink, Fox Prices Up in Finland
Tariff on Chinese Goods Shelved
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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