Mink climbs again at North American Fur Auctions
SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 31, ISSUE 15, MAY 28, 2007
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
Mink climbs again at North American Fur Auctions
MINK PRICES WERE STILL RATCHETING UPWARD LAST WEEK, as Chinese and Russian interests continued to feed their appetites at levels approaching last year’s record heights. The sale at North American Fur Auctions attracted a record attendance for a May event, which typically included a large percentage of breeders and lowgrades. But this also was the final opportunity to buy North American mink this year, the entire U.S. and Canadian crops now having gone under the hammer. The results were a further demonstration of the market’s underlying strength and that the steep drop in February was merely a short-lived reflection of the weather-related decline in retail fur sales last winter.
As was the case at the other auctions since February, most of the price recovery has been in the male skins, with the females having regained less ground so far. The disparity reflects the fact that most of the mink being consumed in China and Russia still go into such single-skin products as trimmings and hats, for which the larger males are better suited.
THE CANADIAN FUR TRADE IS DEEPLY CONCERNED about the rising number of European countries that have banned or are planning to ban seal imports. At the same time, they are upset by the failure of the Canadian government to move on the issue at the diplomatic level. In a strong letter to Prime Minister Steven Harper, Bruce Williams, chairman of the Fur Institute of Canada, warned that the government’s failure to react to Belgium’s recent ban on seal imports “will almost certainly form the legal basis for the coming German, Austrian, British and French import bans.” Williams pointed out that the trade had been assured by the federal government that, as soon as it was in a legal position to initiate an action under the rules of the World Trade Organization, it would do so.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Mink Climbs Again at NAFA
Prices Higher than Seattle Sale
China, Russia Still Pushing
New Garment Increases Seen
Moscow Fair Termed Success
For extracts from back issues of Sandy Parker Reports see News Archive. Subscribers can access an archive of complete issues at www.sandyparker.com.
