Swakara sales in Copenhagen undeterred by overproduction of mink skins – 100% of offering sold at auction
The Swakara industry recently had a good international pelt auction, amidst a fur market that is still experiencing an overproduction of mink skins and has not fully recovered from the recent global economic crisis.
The auction was held in Copenhagen, Denmark on 18 March, and according to Jaco van Zyl, Agra’s Pelt Centre Manager, 100% of the offering was sold during the auction. The auction was attended by 25 successful bidders.
The March 2018 consignment consisted of 26,601 black (63.6%), 10,920 white (26.12%), 3,513 spotted (8.4%) and 775 diverse pelts (1.8%).
The local producer who had more than 250 pelts at this auction, was Karasberge Karakoel Stoet, who achieved an average price of N$879.78 for 381 pelts.
An average price of N$476.38 was achieved for the 41 809 pelts that were sent to the auction by Agra Pelt Centre. This is a decrease of 4.1%, compared to the auction results of September 2017, where an average price of N$496.98 was achieved for a total of 39 007 pelts.
However, in Danish Krone the average was DKK240.57, an increase of 0.11% compared to September 2017’s auction.
The black top lot, 70 O Light Selected Extra pelts, was sold for N$1 980.20 to Konstantinou Furs, a fur retailer from Kastoria, Greece. The white top lot, 50 White KF Selected pelts, was sold to Yury Polyakov, a Russian retailer, for N$2 178.22 per pelt.
English buyers bought the most pelts, with Greece buyers second in line and Hong Kong third. More Chinese buyers also attended the auction.
The buyer who bought the most Swakara pelts, was Hurwitz Exports Limited, based in England. Hurwitz bought 36 lots with 9 647 pelts, followed by Bourtsos from Greece, who bought 5,841 Swakara pelts.
The average price achieved for black Swakara pelts was N$408.48, a decrease of 11.01% compared to September 2017’s international auction. White pelts achieved an average price of N$735.95, a decrease of 4.13% compared to September 2017’s auction. The price for spotted pelts sold at an average of N$267.81 an increase of 4.05% compared to September 2017’s auction.
Van Zyl noted that although there were more active buyers at the auction compared to September 2017, they were more selective in their buying. “High quality pelts received good prices, compared to the lower quality pelts that received prices that were below expectation,” van Zyl said.
