fur prices

[trappnman]

sold fur for the 4th and last time Friday-

good and bad

coon are on a downward spiral- still have value, but they went from near a $30 average in early nov, to $20 average in Dec to a $17 average Friday but to be fair, half of what I sold Friday were starting to break down- (green)

mink- $25-28 males, $14 females (put up)

only had one blanket beaver- $33 (green) (as of now beaver seem to be keeping their value)

sold one medium male otter- $60 (green)

rats- sold last 2xs at $10 average- this time $7.50 average (put up)

I think, unless things change, going to be a year when those selling early, do better than the auctions but time will of course tell

I was told 3 things are keeping/increasing value- reds, GOOD coyotes and beaver. Very tuff grade on coyotes, and off colors or rubbed, are pretty much no value

[RdFx]

Ditto on your perspective on fur prices. Time will tell, if prices fall , might make a differance what sales will be at Escanaba.

[thorsmightyhammer]

Muskrats will be all right at auction IMHO.

Beaver will be good. I may actually go trap some if we ever get out of this deep freeze. Maybe, my ambition level is a little low.

All in all though that was decent prices.

[blackhammer]

Good mink prices Steve. I shipped a decent bunch of mink to NAFA and I'm second guessing myself. I think they will no sale in Feb. I believe I should have sold in the country. Go figure I have a good year on mink and the market is weak. Seems like it's been a perfect negative storm for my season this year. See Groeny tweeted mink the worst item ,coyote the best right now. Thought your rats were a little too cheap trapperman.

[braveheart]

I will take the blame on low prices.I shipped a big pile of fur to Nafa for the first sale first time ever to ship fur.I usually sell local dealers.I am up in the air what to do with the last bunch still have only sold 32 coon.But all this fur is Dec. and Jan. good colored and big for the coon.

[thorsmightyhammer]

I'm going to guess at the NAFA auction that muskrat will average $11

[bblwi]

Lets say that the current fur market doldrums are say temporary ( a season or part of a season) with huge increases in ranch fur numbers with Chinese leadership changes and warm weather early in some key markets. If that drives prices down say from last year's NAFA MN, WI coons that averaged $40 in February would now be say $25 or a bit lower.
If you were a well financed fur broker or buyer for the end users you may want to buy more fur than you really need as that at least puts money into the hands of the local and regional buyers and harvesters that ship their fur. With the lower demand right now it may be better to have the fur further away from the harvesters and local buyers as if they have lots of unsold furs then there is no cash back into the hands of the front end of the commodity enterprise. If fur is still in demand and there is a correction for a bunch of reasons then the end users or brokers may well know that as well. If prices drop low enough they may increase buying which will give better clearances and that may be the best outcome for next season.
A 40% drop in my coon prices from last year still has a me at a $26 coon average which is $10 more than what my average was in 2009 or close to $10.

Bryce

[coloradocat]

Colorado auction had a 40.29 average with $100 top and a $1 low. Eastern Colorado and western KS semi heavys ruled, then western Colorado Heavys.