Nafa pick up dates

[mr otter]

I spoke with our NAFA agent and he wants to pickup finished fur on March 15th at a truck stop on the Alabama/Georgia line off I-20 west of Atlanta. This will be the last chance to get fur into the May NAFA auction. The April 12 date in Perry is still scheduled to happen, but the fur at that pickup will be put in the September auction. In past years the September auction has been cancelled due to lack of quality fur; meaning that your fur will not get auctioned until next February. If you put up fur you better get to work!

 

[ITRAPGAK9]

The Sep sale has mostly been an internet sale in the past, they have high expectation on the Sep sale this year because of the Chinese getting hit w fines from last season in excess of 1 billion dollars as well as EPA violations in their tanneries. The fur prices have suffered because of this as well. There hasn't been enough people at the auction to even include high quality fur NAFA is actually holding it for the later sales. If you want to get rid of your fur get it to NAFA no later than March 24 that is the new date for the next sale. I am personally undecided after seeing the prices on most furs. Cats, otters and muskrat from our region are selling good but beaver, coons, fox and mink have taken a huge hit. I believe I'll be sending otter and cats by March 24 and the rest April 12. Good luck to everyone.

 

[joshsanders]

Looked to me like the majority of what sold was the higher quality fur. All smaller otters, central coons and cats were bought back.

 

[ITRAPGAK9]

I was told the opposite from the NAFA rep I talked to. He did say the western cats took a huge hit.

 

[JonathonJEB]

NAFA just posted this today

Warm Winter in Russia and China Affects Fur Market

By Herman Jansen, Managing Director

It is no secret across the industry that a warm winter in Russia, China and Europe has exacted a significant toll on the fur market. It started with commercial brown mink, which dropped 50% to 60% from last year’s record prices, and was equally evident in the sale of some of our major wild fur species during our February sale.

With a registered audience of over 400 buyers in attendance, we opened the February sale with coyotes, which sold 100% under very strong competition from Italy, Canada, Russia and China, we were quite hopeful that most of our trimming articles could be sold at similar high clearance levels. On the opening day, red fox, grey fox and wild mink also all sold 100%, but at reduced price levels. However, muskrats actually exceeded last year’s record prices and sold 100%, with Korea taking a dominant position. Muskrats have become a fashion article in Korea. Muskrat bellies are being used as winter coat linings. Fishers also did very well with many new markets participating.

The sable/marten sale was, perhaps, the most disappointing article within the February auction. Clearances of 30% reflected mostly Koreans buying better goods. To many of our buyers, our price levels were out of line with the Russian sables which had sold earlier in the month. However, a good fair in Hong Kong and Milan should help bring buoyancy back to the market for this beautiful article, despite the fact that the production of sable appears to be on the low side of its normal 7 year cycle. Therefore, we do expect that in our next sale, now being held in May, that we will be selling 100% of what will be now, a much larger sable/marten offering.

Heavy section raccoon, which are mostly used for trimming, sold over 90% with China and Russia dominating, but also received good support from European and North American fashion houses. The semi-heavy and flatter section raccoon, which are used mostly for garments, met price resistance due to the low commercial mink prices. Beaver was again a problematic article as the new low mink prices make the beaver less attractive to most of our buyers. Unfortunately, dressing, plucking and dyeing a beaver is somewhere around $35 in Hong Kong/China, compared to a plucked, sheared and dyed mink at $5 to $7. While beaver is a beautiful article, especially sheared, and has found new support from Italian fashion houses, there is not enough volume depth in the market and it would appear that this problem will stay with us for a while.

Otters sold 100% with China dominating. Lynx and lynx cats sold 100% with Greece dominating and support from other markets. The top end of the lynx cats did very well and all of the Greek purchases are actually for the Russian market.

The most important take-away from our February auction is the clear fact that fur is still very much in fashion. Yes, of course, we didn’t see a repeat of last year’s prices in many articles, but the warm winter in our key fur consuming markets will inevitably have that effect. Nevertheless, NAFA’s promotional work internationally brings new clients to our auction room. Korea, for example, is now into muskrats, fishers and sables. Without our promotion, they would not have been there, so again every penny that is spent is an investment today and in the future.

 

[mr otter]

I love how they do not mention all the medium and small sized furs that were bought back.

 

[joshsanders]

Look on nafa website. You will see what I am talking about. All fur took a big hit. And most of our cats grade central.