Just for the record, I'm not representing GFW, I'm not buying for them, I decided to go trapping this year. I haven't started yet but intend to do so shortly. I made this decision over the summer/fall. Yes my ad is still on the forum... sorry!
The reality is nobody knows yet what a coyote is really worth. A big part of the problem is that Northern China is in a total lockdown. Another problem is that Canada Goose is no longer buying coyotes shortly.
Due to the lockdown, nobody can work and trim parkas with coyote fur, as well, people can't go to the 1/2 mile long x 4 story high fur malls and blow their money on fur trimmed parkas.
This kinda puts a damper on the market as is. Kinda sets everything back.
Dave, you might think GFW is in trouble, but I'd venture to say that you are speculating and don't know anything. They've been around for 110 years or something, probly have learned a few things along the way, like how to react in an uncertain market, to be as fair as they can without losing money, and in particular, how to survive in difficult markets, far worse than what we have today.
If anybody had a crystal ball, they would know what they could sell a collection of coyotes for on the world market and would know where they could buy and be safe, as in buy and not lose money in the process. In the real world, when there is uncertainty, prices fall, regardless of product. So nobody has any answers yet. Maybe in a month or 6 weeks we might be a whole lot smarter.
The fur market has not tanked. My understanding is that FHA has unloaded a mountain of less than desireable skins that were plugging up their facilities and needed to be moved out, moved. Less desireable goods bring less desireable prices, so my understanding is they moved a lot of low end goods cheap and I say... Good! Let the goods and market demand dictate price. Sell the fur, let it self regulate, especially on goods with limited demand. Howard Trager told me a line from his father Sam... "never fall in love with the fur, you'll never make a dime" or something along those lines.
If the market had tanked, then nobody would want the coyotes, not even the "criminal syndicate"!!! but the truth is the buying companies appear to be opening at conservative levels, one more conservative than the other. Likely that will change as the one group has been hunting high and low to see what GFW would be paying. Other buyers are still in the process of setting their prices. Coyotes we talking - as usual. Funny how we call the coyote market the fur market, when it is just a portion of it. Other items aren't tank-ed either yet. More on that later.
It will be most interesting to see what the price of coyotes will come in at. There's lotsa factors, some simple ones like CG out, other factors such as CG knock-off people's position, and other factors like Italy, will they slip away from the stranglehold that the globalist's have placed on their country and get back to shopping and manufacturing? Will everybody quit coyotes just cuz CG has stepped out? Earlier we knew that CG was out, yet the calls for continued strong demand of coyotes by FHA and others was an indicator of the market condition, pre-China lockdown.
And next we have this fricking omnicromer variant for covid. The good thing is that Delta got all the unvaxxed already and they now all have strong antibodies. The bad thing is that the vax aint that great and likely affects natural immunity so here we go again. Point being, all the speculative media fear will be unleashed upon the world as the globalists continue their Klaus Schwab antics while the masses walk around with their heads... stuck in something or some unusual place where heads shouldnt be??? So here we go again, more corvid fun for the world, and this is bad for the fur market.
But so far, one good thing about the coovid, with FHA auctions being online, it was difficult for things to fall. FHA presented goods both by photo as well as video, and put valuations to the lots, and either you bid within a reasonable percentage of the valuation, or no kiyutes for bobby, or jimmy or whoever. The effect? Seems to me that some goods likely would have fallen had there been a live auction, in particular, coyotes! That is purely my speculation and I could be wrong. The auction felt like there was very weak bidding/participation, but just enough to get by on and squeak thru. With the ommercrommer variant floating around everywhere, likely no live auction again, and more notably, likely no free for all Christmas to be enjoyed by family and friends, which in my mind was the reason for ommercron to be unleashed prior to the end of november.... Santa was coming... and Trudeau and his Schwab-bish buddies no want.
Conclusion... don't freak out yet, unless you only trap for the money and don't really have a true love for the industry and the "sport" of it. Give things a chance to settle out.
|