Mink prices ease in Copenhagen

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 31, ISSUE 27, SEPT. 10, 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 prices ease in Copenhagen

MINK PRICES WERE MOSTLY EASIER THAN JUNE LEVELS at last week’s end-of-season auction at Kopenhagen Fur, where the lower averages also reflected the nature of the offering. However, considering the strong increases registered in June – especially in the price of male skins – buyers at last week’s sale regarded the results as more of a correction than an indication of any change in the supply/demand picture. That the unusually large offering was virtually all sold was taken as evidence that the big Chinese and Russian markets, along with others, are still hungry for the skins.

The price easing came as no surprise, there having been indications weeks before the sale that Chinese skin dealers were having difficulty turning a profit based on June Kopenhagen price levels. The signals, therefore, were that the Chinese would be looking to buy at lower prices or, failing that, might wait for their new domestic mink crop to come on the market in the next several weeks. Chinese production was understood to have reached about 10 million pelts last year and a further increase of 25% was said to have been planned for this year, which would bring Chinese production close in size to that of Denmark, the world’s largest producer.

Last week’s auction attracted some 340 buyers, with Hong Kong/China dominating and taking the majority of the offering. Greece/Russia also was active, particularly on the large males. In general, the short-napped, or velvet types, held up better than the longer-haired pelts, both in the males and the females. Male prices, according to the official report, declined as much as 13% for mahogany, 11% for glow, 10% for black and pastel, 8% for brown and 6% for white. In the females, most were firm to June, but brown and glow velvet rose 9%, pearl and white went up 6% and black declined 9%.

IN THIS ISSUE:
Mink Prices Ease in Copenhagen
Declines Regarded as Correction
Effect on Garments Awaited
Finns Cut Bluefox Production
Chinese Inroads Seen Cause

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