I got this from another site for what the march sale was .I do not ship there. It is close to what I had got .
http://furharvesters.com/results/2018/March/mar18us.pdf
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I got this from another site for what the march sale was .I do not ship there. It is close to what I had got .
http://furharvesters.com/results/2018/March/mar18us.pdf
No marten??
A friend called the other day, he had just got in from pulling his mountain line, he took a little over 200 martin and a few linx, he was headed right back out to a different area to pull in some beaver before the season ends.
I use to do spring beaver,I stop because too man bite marks. I just do early beaver now.
Here is the NAFA report link http://www.nafa.ca/wp-content/upload...rts-prices.pdf
Hmm It's unbelievable what coyote are going for now. Years ago I wouldn't give over $5 a hide for them unless they were skinned. Just my luck LOL.
I was thinking the same thing as I read the report. A new gun shop in my area is big into trapping and he just said last week prices are so low its not worth selling anything. The guys are sitting on it all in freezers. I am not a trapper but those prices looked good to me.
The price of coyotes went up because of Korea use to use dog fur and dye it to look like coyote and the US told them you need to state what fur it was and then it kill there market to go to coyote,after that coyote start to go up. Now you see what it is going for now.It is mainly for the trim trade beside coats. The one I sell to he sell almost all his coyotes to a guy in Italy.I had met the guy about 2 to 3 years ago .All the other furs is because of what is going on in the world.The EU was trying to kill the wild fur market with just try to get ranch fur. By have the 2 auction house in Canada to mark all the furs from the US because they try to force the US to stop the use of foothold traps and they said no. Then they went to tell the US and they told them that it is up to the state not the Fed to put the laws in the use of footholds. After that it kill what the EU was trying to do.
Trapper, why is marten not listed in the NAFA prices??
I take it they did not offer them. They been going down hill for the past years. A few years ago they had a fire sale on coon and they just about kill that market. Many years ago they would pull the furs that they did not get the min price that they wanted. Not any more.
Good question. Probably what Trapper9260 referenced " they did not offer them ( at this auction, at this time. )."
Now, what " They been going down hill for the past years." is referencing to, I'm not sure. I hope not NAFA, cause I doubt that won't happen for many, many years. If it is in reference to marten pelts it could mean that 1, there is no demand for them 2, an overage of pelts or 3, they - NAFA - are playing the waiting game to see if the major dressers are in dire need of the pelts. This is what the fun or for profit trapper has to learn as part of the trapping game, no matter what animal they target.
I am not a pine marten trapper, never ever have been, but I know they are not easy to trap as what some people think so. With having to be able to talk with people in Alaska that have I known, they are hard to trap. Setting out 2-4 traps every mile to mile and a half over 100-125 miles is NOT easy. So, I'm thinking that NAFA is holding on to the pelts for a later auction to draw more bidders and to get a better price per lot. But, I could be all wet too.
It is not for the marten , it is NAFA it self. They want you to grade your furs before you ship them and is there is some damage they will dump it.Some had said that is what have happened to them. Things have change from the way it use to be.They had take on un put up furs at one point and the one that was doing it for them had to get out of it, it was mainly coon and They also doing everything on line then to mail you a check like they have in the past. They want your bank account number to do it all by.There is alot is drop NAFA and go to FHA. It dose not matter to me now since I deal with a fur buyer now buy all that show up with and he dose not sell at any auction just the ones that make coats and he mainly go by what FHA come up with.
Well I think marten prices are down compared to 3 or 4 years ago, but I think they still averaged 55 or so last year. I have seen no prices for this year, but marten is the Alaska trappers bread and butter, linx, wolf and some others are nice icing, but most are after marten.
Alot of furs are down.Just the coyote is holding up. I know AK have some nice furs. But it all depends on who are the buyers. How things change for the years.
AK fur prices seemed good. I don't keep track, but I know when prices are outrageously high. I received 60 dollar average on my red fox, 200 plus on my lynx, marten were about 75. I did ok. Probably my best year ever.
Is there no demand for mink anymore ?
There is not a high one for mink. Depends on the ranch mink is going for at the time .That is also go for the rats too ,beside the wild mink.If ranch mink is doing good then the wild mink and rats will also.
Ya know I should pay more attention. Marten, Lynx, red fox are what I focus on. I should save the flyers. I never seen anything but low mink prices.
Mtec,
The Koreans manufacture some fur for other markets. There is very little fur actually consumed inside Korean, and most of which is ranch mink, like the rest of the world. The wild fur market is very small compared to the numbers of ranch mink produced world wide. Most mink is worn by older women, whom are financial stable. Swings in the fur market are usually caused by fashion trends, usually worn by younger women, and can change quite quickly. Most Marten of good dark quality are produced North of 50, in both Alaska and Russia. Russians consume most of the worlds fur, and like Marten garments, most of which are produced in Greece, China, and smaller manufacturers. At one time the trappers in Russia were subsidized by the Russian government, but last I heard they were no longer getting those subsidies, so production has been smaller the last few years. That bodes well for the Alaskan marten, but also consider the effect the sanctions are having on the Russian economy. The Rubal is worth considerably less than it was just a few short years ago, so effects the depth of the market and the price the market will/can pay.
The Chinese put a tariff on fur coming into China, a couple of years ago, that was going to stay in China, but not that fur that would be exported after being manufactured there. That export market was Russia, but now their economy is poor, at best. and the average women can't spend much on fur. There are roughly 240 million people in the Northern tier of China who could wear fur, but now the manufacturers have to add that tariff value to their products, which passes to the consumer, and caused some price resistance in Chinese buyers. Really the tariff was just a way for China to promote their attempts at mink ranching, which has been a pretty poor mink, due to a lack of a good food source, which the Chinese eat themselves(fish).
The recent rise in the coyote price is being maintained by a Canadian label, and is really going all over the world to upper end markets. It is also quite shallow, and the prices being paid for poor grade coyotes recently, reflects that. Some mid grade coyote is also going into the trim trade.
Coon have no market currently, other than a small number going into the trim trade, again due to the Russian economy, and them being the end user. Most coon garments are produced in Greece or China, but there are some ongoing efforts to get coon into the hands of younger designers, as an attempt to create newer, flashier designs to appeal to a younger market. Like the 25-35 year old class of young professional women developing in China. NAFA has done fur workshops in Korea, China, and Russia the last couple years with just such an agenda.
All but the best of the beaver are being made into felt for hats currently. Hard to tell how long that will last as the felt market is probably getting pretty full shortly. There is still quite a few beaver going into sheared garments, but manufacturing costs limit that market to some extent, due to the cost of plucking and shearing. There are also still some beaver being worn natural, or as jackets with leather sleeves.
I was just up on the south shore of Lake Winnipeg, Manitoba at a trappers convention. There were reps from both NAFA, Fur Harvesters, and International Tannery from Winnipeg. Those weren't optimistic conversations for the near future markets. As long as all these trade tariffs and tit for tats between Russia, China and the US are going on, markets will be pretty limited.
Seattle Fur Exchange/ American Legend recently closed down, and NAFA bought the American Legend label. That will create some hardships for fur producers in Ak. and the west would be my best guess.
A very good write up for an overall picture of the fur market ( With out stating any prices. ). Thank you very much Rally. It appears to me you have a very high investment in the fur trade and your future. When I was into the ' fur market ' I did my best to keep abreast of trends, markets, world events, commodities, etc., to determine what furs to target each year. Sometimes it worked and sometimes it didn't. Again thank you.