Retailers buy cautiously at NAFFEM

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 30, ISSUE 12, MAY 8, 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
Retailers buy cautiously at NAFFEM
SUBSTANTIAL CARRYOVER INVENTORIES FROM LAST SEASON COMBINED WITH THIS YEAR’S HIGHER WHOLESALE PRICES to cause retailers to move cautiously at the North American Fur & Fashion Exposition in Montreal last week. Although this was the last in the series of major international fur fairs and for smaller independents an important resource for their seasonal requirements, they felt little pressure to make selections and place orders at this time. For many, the fair served mainly as a showcase of what is available for the new season and a sort of catalog of where to go or who to call when the need arises. For the time being – and likely well into the fall – they have enough salable merchandise and were interested in buying only a few fresh items.
UNLIKE LAST YEAR AND THE YEAR BEFORE, when the skin market was rising rapidly and wholesale prices were constantly in flux, the general sense is that mink and most other skins have plateaued and that garment prices also will flatten out. Ergo, no rush to buy. At last year’s Montreal fair, buyers were told that prices were subject to change, which turned out not to be merely a sales hype – prices did follow the skin market further upward. This was not the case last week; there were no such caveats. In fact, a number of major vendors were notified just before the fair by their Hong Kong/Chinese manufacturers that there would be no price changes at this time. Although mink prices last month backed off slightly from their peaks – giving rise to hopes of a rollback in garment prices – the manufacturers evidently were guarding against a resumption of the climb at the upcoming auctions.
IN THIS ISSUE:
Buying at NAFFEM Is Cautious
Stores Bogged by Carryover Stock…
…but Invest in Fashion, Novelty
Stronger Canada $ Curbs Visits
Wild Furs Draw Good Demand
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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