North American mink crop expected to edge up

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 30, ISSUE 22, JULY 17, 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
North American mink crop expected to edge up
THIS YEAR’S MINK PRODUCTION IN NORTH AMERICA IS PROCEEDING WELL and early indications are that the crop will be slightly larger than last year’s. The reports from the ranches are that the critical month of June went relatively uneventfully with few losses due to excessive heat conditions or other problems. Ranchers had generally bred more females than they did a year ago, encouraged by their sharply improved profit prospects after so many years of depressed prices.
At this point, ranching interests expect the U.S. crop to be about 3% to 5% larger and Canadian production to be up from 5% to 10%, barring major problems. Last year, the U.S. produced 2.7 million mink and Canada’s crop amounted to 1.8 million. Canadian production has been growing rapidly, having more than doubled in the past decade, while the U.S. output has remained relatively constant.
CHINA’S ECONOMIC GROWTH IS RESULTING IN INTENSIFIED PRESSURE on that government to allow its yuan to float to a more realistic value against the dollar and other currencies. News last week that China now enjoys a record trade surplus with the U.S. and with the rest of the world in general brought fresh demands that the yuan be allowed to appreciate as a way of reducing the U.S. and other countries’ trade deficits.
Estimates are that the yuan is undervalued by as much as 35% or 40%, which has enabled China to undersell products of most developed countries and create its favorable trade balance. As the largest source of manufactured fur garments consumed in the U.S. and many other countries, a yuan revaluation could have a significant impact on retail fur prices with potentially positive and negative effects. China has reacted to the pressure somewhat, in the past year having allowed the yuan to creep up about 3.5%.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Summer Doldrums Hit Markets
Opening Store Orders Dwindling
Wholesale Prices Leveling Off
N.A. Mink Crop Seen Up Slightly
U.S. Apparel Imports Dip in May
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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