The Year In Review

SANDY PARKER REPORT, VOL. 29, ISSUE 43, JANUARY 9, 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
The Year In Review
VIRTUALLY ALL LEVELS OF THE FUR TRADE AROUND THE WORLD HAD CAUSE FOR CELEBRATION IN 2005, a year in which advancing skin levels produced a healthy income for most farmers and higher price tags were accepted by consumers. It was the second consecutive such year – a rarity in the past two decades – and augured well for the coming year. Retail sales, which faltered occasionally because of inconsistent weather conditions, nevertheless were on the positive side for most of the year, while the skin markets were stoked mainly by the still-growing appetites of China and Russia. Although furs were prominent in the fashion picture, December’s seasonably cold temperatures provided much of the impetus for a strong windup.
FROM A RETAIL STANDPOINT, THE YEAR ACTUALLY GOT OFF TO A MIXED START: strong in China and Russia, but slow in the United States where weather conditions were mostly unfavorable. While the Chinese and Russian markets drew further encouragement to keep up their pressure at the auction level, U.S. retailers were dismayed by the prospect of having to carry over heavier than normal inventories into the following season. Fortunately, these were garments they acquired in a rising market and would increase in value without losing sales appeal from a style standpoint. Wholesale prices of mink garments, which had crept steadily upward through 2004, opened at about 20% above that year’s latest levels at the Hong Kong Fair in February. As skin prices in general continued to climb in 2005, so did the garment prices.
Whatever apprehension the trade may have felt about consumer reaction to the higher levels proved unfounded, as it had the previous year. The answer was that, unlike such day-to-day purchases as groceries and other staples where price changes would be readily noticeable, few fur customers were sophisticated enough to recognize even a major increase from one year to the next.
IN THIS ISSUE:
2005 Ends on Strong Note
Skin Prices Continue Upward
World Mink Crop Sets Record
China, Russia Reshape Trade
Consumers Accept Higher Prices
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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