![]() have passed rules banning the sale of fur products, and some states are contemplating fur bans as well. Canada Goose – the largest buyer of coyote pelts and trendsetter in fur lined parka fashion, recently announced they’re going ‘fur free’. Several fashion lines have announced they’ll discontinue using fur. Despite all of the obvious benefits of fur – its incredible warmth and durability, sustainable management, environmental friendliness and biodegradability, and the necessity to harvest animals to manage healthy populations, the animal rights movement continues to influence the industry and fashion. Although fashion trends come and go and can’t be predicted with much reliability, the trend seems to be obvious. Oil prices have often been a good barometer for fur prices, but it’s unclear whether they’ll matter much in today’s fur market.įashion trends continue to drag on the fur market recently as well. This hasn’t helped China, though, as they import most of their oil, and increased cost just drives up the cost of production in factories, eventually weighing down on economic growth. Oil prices have almost doubled recently, providing an economic boost to countries like Russia, whose citizens do consume a lot of fur. This oversupply will continue to weigh on prices until demand for fur recovers. The problem, though, is the millions of mink pelts that are sitting in storage waiting to be sold just haven’t cleared out yet. This would all seem to be positive for wild fur, with a smaller number of mink on the market. The discovery of COVID-19 strains in several mink farms resulted in the forced culling and disposal of millions of pelts. The ranch mink market has changed considerably, with several years of depressed prices causing many farms to go out of business, thus reducing supply. You can’t talk wild fur prices without touching on ranch fur production (primarily mink and fox), since ranch fur accounts for the vast majority of all fur consumed in the world. In short, fur isn’t selling in China right now. For the first time in recent memory, they announced in early November 2021 that they would discontinue ALL fur buying routes until further notice, citing “difficult and uncertain market conditions”. Groenewold regularly runs fur buying routes across the midwestern U.S. Groenewold Fur & Wool Company, the largest private buyer of wild fur in the U.S., has close connections with the fur market in China and monitors day to day sales of fur items in numerous Chinese shops. This extra step in the process adds cost, making it more difficult to sell fur at reasonable prices. China has banned import of all raw skins, meaning any fur sold must be sent somewhere to be dressed (tanned) and then imported into China. Auction prices were disappointing throughout the year, although a good amount of inventory was finally cleared out, leaving some potential for increasing prices if demand recovers.Īnother wrinkle brought on by the virus is the importation of raw skins into certain countries. Whether that was due to the inability of buyers to physically inspect goods they were bidding on, or more a reflection of the lack of demand in the market, is hard to determine. ![]() Although they were able to move some fur, the results weren’t great. Although things began to recover, recent resurgence of the virus has required China to re-institute many of the lockdowns, keeping potential consumers at home.įur Harvesters Auction, Inc., the one remaining fur auction house in North America, had to resort to online-only fur sales all last year. There’s also little reason to spend on fashionable clothing when folks aren’t going out and socializing like they once did. People can’t get out to shops to buy fur coats and other garments. Their disease prevention strategy has been effective, but it also ground the economy to a halt. Since the pandemic began, China has pretty much been in full lockdown mode. ![]() Unlike in the U.S., fur is fashionable in these places, and the economic well being of their consumers is critical in driving the market. Unlike the historic market, where a great deal of domestic production was consumed in North America, today’s market relies on buyers in China, Greece, Italy, Russia and Korea. When it will recover is anyone’s guess.įirst let’s talk macro factors, then we’ll look into individual species. A seemingly endless global pandemic, supply chain disruptions and economic uncertainty have dealt a pretty heavy blow to an already low market. But in more than a decade of following the market and reporting on prices, I’ve never seen anything remotely like this. To put things bluntly, it’s going to be a really tough season for the fur market, and low prices will be the norm for most species. ![]()
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