HK Fair Demonstrates Importance to International Trade

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 30, ISSUE 4, MAR. 13, 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
HK Fair Demonstrates Importance to International Trade
WITH MUCH OF THE SMOKE GENERATED AT THE RECENT HONG KONG FAIR – which visitors described as the hottest ever – having settled, a clearer picture of the event is emerging, as are the shifts in the dynamics of the world fur trade. Not only has the fair itself again demonstrated how important Hong Kong/China has become as supplier to the world, but just as obvious is how dependent on that source the international trade has become. While at the retail level, even in such active markets as Russia and China, it is still the consumer who is in control, the impression obtained by some at the fair was that the reverse may be true at the wholesale level, where vendors were said to be more rigid in their prices than in previous years.
As previously reported, price was a key issue at this fair; more specifically, how much higher they were than last year because of the soaring skin prices at the auctions. A major concern among buyers, particularly those from established Western markets, was how their clienteles would react to increases of as much as 40%, even though similar concerns last year proved to be unwarranted. In prior years, in the absence of drastic skin increases and in their desire to set up cost-effective production schedules for their huge factories in China, the manufacturers granted price concessions to induce early orders. Although the latest prices were still subject to negotiation – and are likely to remain so because it is the nature of the trade – some buyers felt the vendors were holding a bit firmer to their limits than before.
Total business booked at the fair rose 42% to $443.8 million (U.S.). This consisted of $211.2 million confirmed at the fair, an increase of 47%, and $232.5 million to be confirmed, an increase of 38%.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Reliance on Hong Kong Still Rising
Mfrs.’ Role Seen Strengthening
Russian Trade Showing Maturity
Frankfurt Fair More Active
U.S. February Sales Decline
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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