NAFA Market Update

[TrapperRon]

www.nafa.ca/20861


Wild Fur Update – Coyote Market Still Upbeat

December 18, 2015

All indications from retail are that sales of down filled jackets with coyote trim are positive, despite the warm weather in Europe and North America. Coyotes are still very fashionable and the much warmer than normal temperatures are not hurting the trim trade as much as they are hurting fur garment sales. China’s fur sales to date are slower than last year in the North East, although temperatures are similar to last year. To the south, Beijing has had smog alerts indicating warmer temperatures.

In our last Wild Fur Update in early November, we spoke about coyotes, female fishers and sables and we believe what we said at the time still holds true. On the raccoon front, NAFA’s promotional department’s efforts, with strong support from the Wild Fur Shippers Council, is paying off. Several of the top fashion houses are putting wild fur back on the runways, especially raccoon. We are presently negotiating several sales of better quality raccoon skins for shipment in late January. The quantities that these design houses use are not huge (5,000 to 10,000 each), but it is a very important step in the right direction. Although all raccoon prices have been adjusted as a result of the Kopenhagen September ranched mink prices, it is encouraging to see that at the new price levels the fashion trade is willing to make the first step.

In our discussions with the design houses, there is an indication of a price difference for color. For example, if a SEL Western North Central 4XL color 2-3 is $20, then your color 4 will mostly likely be $16 and your color 5 will be $14. Most of the interest from these companies is for heavier section Western types, either North Central or Northerns. These are serious inquiries that we are dealing with and in our experience, we are confident that these transactions will be concluded somewhere in the second half of January. Our hope is that the Chinese will copy these leading fashion houses so that regular skins can be sold, although at current market prices.

The latest news out of Russia is that retail is very disappointing due to money shortages and increased tensions between Russia and Turkey are not helping.

Korea is off to a good start and a few of the fashion companies are looking at increasing their wild fur purchases. This is especially important for our marten/sables and could be of help in other articles such as lynx and lynx cats.

We would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the very best for the Holiday Season and good health and prosperity for the New Year.

[bblwi]

Thanks for posting. Good to see movement of goods even in a down market it helps to move forward. With lower pelt prices the risk for end users is lower in making errors or establishing markets.
Your scenario with coons sounds about what one could expect but it seems to me the color breaks are larger at the local level than what you indicate. It sure does not seem to take much for a nice big 1st grade coon to be $8 locally around here. It might be that with lower goods in the mix the buyers are making adjustments for fur that will be breakeven, a loss or will be stored for a year or more.

Bryce

[RdFx]

Ditto on what Bryce said. That selection process is why i changed from selling locally with a established fur buyer fm Medford Wi and it has made money for me in the years ive done that. When a fur buyer gives you same price for your brushed well put up prime furs same as muddy crap that dog men and uninformed trappers get i left doing business with him.

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2015 18:43:16 GMT -6 RdFx said:

Ditto on what Bryce said. That selection process is why i changed from selling locally with a established fur buyer fm Medford Wi and it has made money for me in the years ive done that. When a fur buyer gives you same price for your brushed well put up prime furs same as muddy crap that dog men and uninformed trappers get i left doing business with him.

What RdFx just expressed is EXACTLY WHY I quit selling locally 20+ years ago!!   All a fur buyer needs to know is the quality of my fur and my account number!  Grade my fur, sell my fur, and send the $$ to this account number!  Simple, simple and nothing personal involved!  I don't need to drop off a jug of JD or a case of Bud a couple times a year or maybe a few dressed chickens, or suck someone off in order to get a high lot number at the Trapper's Assc auctions to get a "good" $ because it's not an honest $!  How about the real "honest" buyers that when you pull your fur off the table and walk they phone the other buyers that you're coming and the $$ you were offered!

If folks don't believe what I've just stated, two reasons at least, quicky come to mind, either you're not as experienced longevity-wise as I am OR you've got a far different quality of integrity of fur buyers then I did!

Just a tiny "fur buyer"  rant !  

I came across one of those A-holes (retired) about 10 years ago and I told him what I was catching for the MSU mink study and he called me a liar that nobody could catch mink like that on that particular river.  I had a very strong urge to grab him and bitch-slap him if it wasn't for being in a public place but I'm just a very nice, calm, older gentleman today!

[bblwi]

I sell about 85% of my fur through the international auctions which for about 10 years is NAFA. I do this because I want to support a couple of the local buyers who are very competitive on some furs and also for nice or somewhat realistic comparisons. I have almost always done better and most times about 20-40% better on my shipped fur, especially raccoons for me as there are so many ways that coon pelts can be graded at or for or by. When you have size, grade, color, clarity and damage in the equation I doubt if 10 buyers may see a pelt the same. Maybe they do but the offers vary considerably.
During the peak rat years say from 2012-2014 I reviewed my lotting slips and there was about twice the price break for size as there was between fall and winter and even lower between good fall and winter, sometimes a $1 on a $13 rat where size may have been 2-3 dollars.

I am fortunate that selling fur is an educational thing for me and not a major bill payer. I have really been able to learn a lot about fur values and grading by shipping my fur. I am learning more all the time how grades change with the market more than they do with the quality of the pelt. At first I was frustrated by this but once one realizes reality one learns to deal with reality.

Bryce

[trappnman]

the fur buyer is going to need to make a profit for his services. I don't have a problem with that insofar I get the benefits of selling all my fur, when I want to, for cash.

I haven't been "screwed" for 30 years- sold all my coon when the market not only crashed, but was non existent for 2 months

My rat prices, have always been very close to auction averages- and some years better- same with mink
my coon ,sold green, including all coon taken, often have been within 4-5 dollars of locals shipping to auction.
I've been told that I could not get a better average on my coyotes by "big wigs" from both auction houses over the years

and on coyotes- I know quite a few guys selling at the auctions over the years similar- and I know what they got, and what I got- and overall- I've done better. Selling coyotes caught oct 13- nov 20 for a $26+ AVERAGE? I'll not have done better and I KNOW- those lesser grades would have been instead of being sold

over the past decades- my local prices have been close enough to auction prices some years lower, some years (and more than a few) higher

when I read- sent 100 pelts, sold 75- had a top of $100!- doesn't mean much when a % sit unsold, or brought back,

yes, our local buyers have integrity

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2015 20:18:12 GMT -6 bblwi said:

I reviewed my lotting slips and there was about twice the price break for size as there was between fall and winter and even lower between good fall and winter, sometimes a $1 on a $13 rat where size may have been 2-3 dollars.

I am fortunate that selling fur is an educational thing for me and not a major bill payer. I have really been able to learn a lot about fur values and grading by shipping my fur. I am learning more all the time how grades change with the market more than they do with the quality of the pelt. 

Bryce

I agree 100%!

[Deleted]

Dec 18, 2015 20:29:32 GMT -6 trappnman said:

when I read- sent 100 pelts, sold 75- had a top of $100!- doesn't mean much when a % sit unsold, or brought back,

yes, our local buyers have integrity

I also agree and I'm very glad your buyers do have some integrity, that way you don't feel the need to prostitute yourself!  Appreciate it!

[trappnman]

Each year, I think I might send some to auction-

this year I have 70 or so rats and 16 mink over my little line-0 and thought this might be a good year to ship them-
then I thought- I'll get a $3 rat average (these are creek rats, much thinner leather than river rats) and whatever the going rate is for mink- Weibkies I see ( 50 miles from me) are paying $12 on males, 7 on females-

could I get more shipping? with 100% sold?

maybe-

maybe not

I think one of the things that keeps a fur buyer "honest" is having other fur buyers competing for the same fur. Here, I know of at least 4 major buyers, including Groeny all competing for the same fur- plus in todays world, everyone knows about shipping. So if you want to be a player, you need to be in the ball game concerning prices.

I understand what Bryce is saying- but we don't have that discrepancy in prices that he experiences.

While I think of it- I often here "average grading" talked down- and the reality of it for me is that I do better overall with eyeball grading, than actual on the table on the measuring board grading.

first of all, having 20 different grades (I remember selling rats back in 60s (ok, mostly dad's rats lol) where rats were graded by every 1/2 inch at the local buyer- each pile being a nickel or a dime down from the one before it)isn't really practical unless you have the volume of hides an auction house has. Or unless you only have a few furs.

take rats- I could have him grade rats for me- in fact a few times for shits & grins we have graded my rats and mink on the board- and the result is very, very close to the "average" + or _ and that shouldn't be hard to see why- if you have bought 10,000s of rats over the decades- some days (in the day) more than that in a day) you have seen enough rats to know the breakdown in sizes, fur quality, color and whatever else he needs to know to know what the "average" rat is in size, etc. so when I sell rats- he knows that 100 rats should have a set amount of 3X all the way down to kits. So I'm asked- how many, he fans them out on a table, looks at a few- and gives me what he will pay st through. He adjusts that average price up or down depending on what he sees in front of him.

and coyotes- it goes into five grades-

damaged/flat/"poor"
very off color

then 3 grades based on color, fur density, etc

now this is different, its not st through like rats, mink coon often are- but using an average grade- this year my top grade was $38- so coyotes in that group ranged from say $30 to upper middle 40s, with a rare one topping $50. now the price, is determined AFTER the grading. After the coyotes are separated, he then goes back slower through each pile, jotting down a note or two, occasionally moving a coyote here or there. Then he goes to his desk and calculates a bit- then comes up with my price per grade

I like the system

[RdFx]

I agree the local fur buyer HAS to make a profit to subsist and still be around next yr. One cant throw money down a hole and expect to stay around . There are honest buyers and i gave the one local buyer a chance but results were the same. Never heard fm him after stop selling to him for so many yrs so it didnt make a differance to him

[Deleted]

Dec 19, 2015 8:20:02 GMT -6 trappnman said:

Each year, I think I might send some to auction-

this year I have 70 or so rats and 16 mink over my little line-0 and thought this might be a good year to ship them-
then I thought- I'll get a $3 rat average (these are creek rats, much thinner leather than river rats) and whatever the going rate is for mink- Weibkies I see ( 50 miles from me) are paying $12 on males, 7 on females-

could I get more shipping? with 100% sold?

maybe-

maybe not

If you've not shipped maybe with your water line numbers, this is the year/sale to have the experience.  I mean seriously, how big of a gamble is it really?

[trappnman]

no gamble I agree-

but you know me.....

thing is, I like going to sell fur- its a ritual.

kind of like running hounds at field trials- in person I love it-

sending one out with a pro handler and getting a card in the mail each week- not so much

I've known Lee for many years.....he knew people I knew, walked trails I've walked-

[musher]

Dec 19, 2015 14:07:37 GMT -6 trappnman said:

no gamble I agree-

but you know me.....

thing is, I like going to sell fur- its a ritual.

kind of like running hounds at field trials- in person I love it-

sending one out with a pro handler and getting a card in the mail each week- not so much

I've known Lee for many years.....he knew people I knew, walked trails I've walked-

There's more to selling fur than the actual sale of the fur. (I can just imagine someone saying that it's all about the cash! As if that argument makes any sense regarding trapping!)

[Deleted]

I don't know Musher.  The way folks jump in when they hear $$ are high and jump right back out when $$ drop like a lead fart!  Normally and for years at the NAFA pick-up location there would be 1-3 of us there, usually 2.  In 2013 with the $$ shooting , up there were 16 of us there.  I was so busy with the aftermath of my dad dying right at the start of trapping season last year I forgot to ship my fur, not once but twice!  This year it was only me at the pick-up who had fur to ship!

Yup, $$ and numbers matter to the vast majority.

[musher]

Whenever money is involved you find those looking for the fast or easy buck. Those guys are more opportunists than trappers. The die hards want the cash but there is more than cash in why they do it. Its part of their DNA.