Focus: Flying fur prices put fox in focus as mink cull sparks shortage
14/12/2020 24:01
* Danish mink cull drives prices up due to pelt shortage
* Finland looking to fill the gap, industry officials say
* Kopenhagen Fur auction house mulls sale of brand, CEO says
* Fashion brands may increase use of fox and other furs
By Silvia Aloisi and Nikolaj Skydsgaard
MILAN/COPENHAGEN, Dec 14 (Reuters) - Denmark's
coronavirus-driven mink cull has put the fur business in a spin,
with industry officials expecting fashion houses such as Louis
Vuitton, Dior and Fendi to snap up fox and chinchilla to fill
the gap.
The global fur trade, worth more than $22 billion a year, is
reeling from Denmark's decision to kill 17 million farmed mink
after COVID-19 outbreaks at hundreds of farms led to the
discovery of a new strain of coronavirus in the mammals.
Worries of a sudden shortage of slinky mink pelts, of which
Denmark was the top exporter, have lifted prices by as much as
30% in Asia, the International Fur Federation (IFF) says.
Now, all eyes are on Finland, where one million mink and
250,000 fox pelts will soon be up for grabs for buyers in Korea,
China, the United States and elsewhere next week. Auction house
Saga Furs plans to hold the international sale, the first since
the Danish cull, via livestream from Dec. 15.
A sales programme offers mink fur from both Europe and North
America, such as "Pearl Velvet" and "Silverblue Velvet" mink, in
addition to "Silver Fox", "White Finnraccoon" and Russian sable.
Saga Furs, which last year took over its North American
rival NAFA, expects to sell all the pelts, compared with a 55%
take-up so far in 2020 as a result of the coronavirus crisis.
"The market will strengthen, an increase in prices will help
our business in general," Saga Furs CEO Magnus Ljung said of the
industry, which has seen years of falling prices.
"We've already had more requests about foxes, if people see
that there is a lack of mink, they could consider using
something else," Ljung told Reuters.
LVMH's LVMH.PA head of sustainability Helene Valade said
this week that the French luxury group obtains fur from Finland.
The owner of Louis Vuitton, Dior and Fendi, which relies on
brokers to bid, says it is using only 100% certified mink, fox
and finnraccoon.
Fur demand has been falling since the 1950s, except for a
rise between 2000 and 2013 when it was popular on fashion
runways and Chinese appetite for luxury pelts boomed, Lise Skov,
an academic who researched the Danish fur industry, said.
A typical mink pelt sold for more than $90 at auction in
2013, while last year skins fetched around $30. This was despite
a fall in global production to just under 60 million pelts last
year, from more than 80 million in 2014.
Euromonitor predicts the value of fur and fur products, both
real and faux, will fall by 2.6% this year.
IS FUR FINISHED?
A Danish breeder-owned cooperative that sold 25 million mink
hides last year, or 40% of the global total, is considering
selling its brand and other assets after announcing that it
would gradually shut down operations over the next 2-3 years.
Kopenhagen Fur CEO Jesper Lauge Christensen told Reuters he
had received expressions of interest from Chinese customers to
take over the auction house's brand, which he said could be
valued at up to 1 billion Danish crowns ($163 million).
It still plans to sell some 25 million pelts over the next
two years, from Danish farms not infected by the virus, frozen
stocks and foreign animals.
Animal activists hope the Danish debacle, which has had
political repercussions in the country, will finish off the fur
industry and demand for items such as $1,700 fur trinkets,
$16,000 fur vests and $60,000 fur coats will disappear.
Countries and states which have already banned fur farms or
fur products includes Britain, Austria, the Netherlands, France,
Norway, Israel and California.
PJ Smith, director of fashion policy at Humane Society
International, says that brands still using real fur will ditch
it soon, following Gucci, Prada, Armani and others.
But for now, Kopenhagen Fur's Christensen said fashion
brands in Europe had expressed concern they will not be able to
find a similar quality to the Danish mink furs.
"One of the biggest challenges from the brand perspective is
that the unique Danish qualities will be disappearing from the
collection and you cannot source that product elsewhere."
He said he was looking at selling warehouse facilities and
equipment such as automated vision machinery to grade the skins.
China, followed by Russia, is the biggest buyer of Danish
fur as its own mink are considered of lower quality than those
raised in Europe, where breeding standards are generally higher.
"We wouldn't choose Chinese-made fur due to its poor
quality," Zhang Changping, owner of China's Fangtai Fur, told
Reuters, adding that it had already bought enough fur at least
for the first half of 2021.
Fangtai would shift to auctions in Finland if Denmark failed
to supply enough mink in the future, he said.
Niccolò Ricci, chief executive of Italian luxury designer
label Stefano Ricci which has many clients in Russia and eastern
Europe, said he expected mink prices to increase by up to 50%
but that high-end labels like his would continue to seek top
quality pelts, mainly from U.S. suppliers.
"The real shortage could come from 2022, but by then we are
hoping mink farmers in Canada, Poland, America and Greece will
increase production to replace Danish output," said IFF head
Mark Oaten. Russia and China are also expected to hike output.
"People will also be looking at other types of fur. Fox has
been very popular for trimmings, in parkas for example. Wild fur
is also becoming more popular, as is chinchilla," Oaten added.
(Reporting by Nikolaj Skydsgaard in Copenhagen and Silvia
Aloisi in Milan; additional reporting by Shanghai newsroom and
Sarah White in Paris; Editing by Vanessa O'Connell and Alexander
Smith)
((silvia.aloisi@thomsonreuters.com; +39 02 66129 723; Reuters
Messaging: silvia.aloisi.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))