NAFA December 2015 Update

[Marty S]

http://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.

[kingrat]

NAFA has spent millions promoting coons,beaver,rats,marten etc and lets you know that with every letter, every news alert, etc but you never used to hear them talk about promoting western coyote ever. Now the market on EVERYTHING is crap except western coyote and thats thanks to one single canadian company, and a couple celebs wearing the coats didnt hurt either. Maybe they need to start looking at markets a little closer to home and start paying some celebs to wear fur maybe starting a new trend or fashion thing like they did with the coats just with other wild fur. But Im pretty sure right now all they are worried about is the drastic fall of ranch mink at the sept sales and whats gonna happen in a month here. Sorry just needed to rant for abit.

[drake]

Looking forward to the day the rappers start spitting rhymes about muskrat hats and fisher bombers instead of these damn mink jackets....

[Marty S]

Seems to me that NAFA did mass amounts of promo work with the long hair stuff some time ago when the long hairs were seeing low demand. Now that coon are in the toilet, it makes sense for them to try to prop that up. It is nice that the Canada Goose rage just happened. I don't think Nafa or anybody else can force fashion crazes upon the masses, but Nafa does do massive amounts of promo work every year all over the globe, and even with our wild fur, perhaps not coyote currently, but if it's not broken, why fix it?

Undoubtably more effort is given to the 5,000,000 or 10,000,000 mink that they move annually. Probably a business needs to take care of what pays the bills and even makes the bucks, first. Would you?

I wonder what FHA has done in the past 30 years as far as fur promotion? Seems to me that they have started doing some recently but before they never did anything? Correct me if I am wrong.

How bout all these fur buyers... what have they done?

Trappers... what have the trappers done to promote their wild fur product with the fashion designers?

Perhaps our new NDP and Liberal governments could do it all for us? So long as we don't have to?

I believe Nafa has done alright as a whole over the years.

[braggadoe]

when you see some of the junk on the tv/internet. put on by "trappers". surprises me(happily). that the ranch fur and the fashion folks, don't began to distance themselves from wild fur.

trappers certainly can/need to do a better job.

[the bearded trapper]

Originally Posted by braggadoe

when you see some of the junk on the tv/internet. put on by "trappers". surprises me(happily). that the ranch fur and the fashion folks, don't began to distance themselves from wild fur.

trappers certainly can/need to do a better job.

I know its off the thread topic to discuss this, but I have to agree with you on this. I dont think those shows are doing anything to help wild fur. I have had this discussion with a few folks on both sides of the fence about it, and i do understand there point that it exposes the trapping lifestyle to the general public, but from what i have seen of these shows, it doesnt do a very good job of truly representing trapping, it all seems staged to me. And things like showing marten and wolf in footholds is not a good thing. We all know that part of the business exists (I am well aware that footholds are illegal in canada for marten though, haha), but I dont think showing things like that on cable tv does anything to help the trapping image. I always use the argument that there are plenty of cooking shows and grocery store advertisements on tv, but no shows that follow the guys working in a slaughter house. Kind of the same thing in my mind, the end product is what needs to be marketed and exposed, but the means to that end doesnt need the exposure that these shows give. I dont think anyone will be running out to buy a fur coat because they just saw joe blow whack a hanging marten on the head with a stick, haha.

[kingrat]

Originally Posted by Marty S

Seems to me that NAFA did mass amounts of promo work with the long hair stuff some time ago when the long hairs were seeing low demand. Now that coon are in the toilet, it makes sense for them to try to prop that up. It is nice that the Canada Goose rage just happened. I don't think Nafa or anybody else can force fashion crazes upon the masses, but Nafa does do massive amounts of promo work every year all over the globe, and even with our wild fur, perhaps not coyote currently, but if it's not broken, why fix it?

Undoubtably more effort is given to the 5,000,000 or 10,000,000 mink that they move annually. Probably a business needs to take care of what pays the bills and even makes the bucks, first. Would you?

I wonder what FHA has done in the past 30 years as far as fur promotion? Seems to me that they have started doing some recently but before they never did anything? Correct me if I am wrong.

How bout all these fur buyers... what have they done?

Trappers... what have the trappers done to promote their wild fur product with the fashion designers?

Perhaps our new NDP and Liberal governments could do it all for us? So long as we don't have to?

I believe Nafa has done alright as a whole over the years.

Of course they would spend more time and energy on ranch mink thats their bread and butter no different then when you sold coyotes straight to canada goose and skipped NAFA all together it just makes better buisness sense, FHA as far as I know have done nothing, same thing there if NAFA is spending millions of their money to promote a product that you both sell why would they blow their money when they could just sit back and let them do all the work and as a trapper thats the ONLY reason I dont ship anything to FHA never have. I join the Wild fur shippers council always have so thats my small part for promotion cause Im told some of that goes towards it or maybe all of it and I ship only good fur and do my best at putting it up not much else I can do is there.And was Trudeau not wearing a fur trimmed coat or something off the start so that dont hurt us either, maybe he`ll buy 35 000 syrians a canada goose coat commpliments of us the tax payers.

[Marty S]

Originally Posted by kingrat

"...no different then when you sold coyotes straight to canada goose and skipped NAFA all together it just makes better buisness sense..."

So you have firsthand knowledge of how that went, huh? You are jumping to conclusions. How did it really go? If it went so well as you imply, am I still doing this today? Why aren't I still doing this today?

FHA as far as I know have done nothing, same thing there if NAFA is spending millions of their money to promote a product that you both sell why would they blow their money when they could just sit back and let them do all the work and as a trapper thats the ONLY reason I dont ship anything to FHA never have..."

I am having difficulties following your logic/reasoning.

I join the Wild fur shippers council always have so thats my small part for promotion cause Im told some of that goes towards it or maybe all of it and I ship only good fur and do my best at putting it up not much else I can do is there.

So they do promote your wild fur. I thought you said they didn't? Also, what do you do with your bad fur? We all get some.

"...And was Trudeau not wearing a fur trimmed coat or something off the start so that dont hurt us either, maybe he`ll buy 35 000 syrians a canada goose coat commpliments of us the tax payers.

I think you are onto something. Run with it.

[kingrat]

My first hand knowledge is from what you said in your other thread about washing them that's all and at the time I'm sure it was better then going through NAFA our why else did you do it, My first line said they spend millions on promoting fur does it not, so when did I say they never promoted my fur Marty I'm not following your logic.

[Marty S]

Looks like we're in a corner, I'm not understanding is all. Forget it.

I tried private treaty sales once upon a time, did it for a couple seasons, learned lots in the process, but when all's said and done, came to the understanding that with high end fur, you cannot beat the auction system in a hot market. Un-beatable, period. Private treaty sales have their place, but not for me right now.

If we go back in time a bit to when the market was plugged/backlogged with coyotes, if we remember, the Chinese were coming to the marketplace and due to massive promotion of coyotes by Nafa, they moved quite a pile of stuff thru the Chinese and got the fur moving. Seems to me that after that point in time that they were having lots of problems with dressing the same coyotes and again Nafa people were working closely with them to encourage/help them to make coyotes work for them as well as invest into the Chinese's continued use of coyotes.

That's how I remember it. I thought it was nice of them. Much more to the story, but nothing that I could never verify. Us trappers are generally kept quite in the dark, we really arent given all that much information as to what's really happening, etc

[kingrat]

ya for sure at the end of the day we both ship to NAFA for our own reasons and don't get me wrong I'm happy with the prices and NAFA in general I was just venting over them not promoting the yotes as hard as other stuff and Im sure maybe they did I just don't remember it is all. However Ive been told I have a bad memory by the misses so take it for what its worth, not much lol.

[DUKE-1]

with the decrease in coyote fur being caught in the west here , do you guys think this may increase the price as the demand will be there? but the quanity will not?

[Marty S]

Which decrease? Consider the possibility that there are simply more people taking the available coyotes? and other such factors. Some guys are catching few, some many, no hard set rule anywhere. Lots of coyotes coming into market according to my sources.

Hopefully the price will simply equalize, and perhaps softening a little from last years levels would actually be a good thing??? Yup, I did say that. The end users do not have unlimited money. They are really feeling these high prices. They have to continue, they have to buy to fill their orders that they have contracts for or else dark, foul, stinky, wet, warm, gooey runny stuff will be flying their way. Ideally we just simply set into a healthy market where everybody is making good money.

[braggadoe]

76 000 offered last feb sale. 85 000 in the march sale. 36 000 in preliminary offering for this upcoming sale.

thoughts on that marty??

certainly no shortage of coyotes around here.

[Marty S]

I hear talk of parvo and such things... I don't believe it not even for a moment. Reports from different areas of the province by numerous people tell me there's lots of coyotes. We shipped quite a bunch of coyotes to the first sale.

Never assume anything with coyotes. Never jump to conclusions, especially if you haven't been in the game long or been watching very closely long term.

Athabasca, Red Deer, Suffield, Pincher Creek, Hays/Taber... Reports of good numbers. Areas in between guys are claiming parvo outbreaks, but that's totally an assumption. I guess we never have science on our side to monitor diseases or health in coyotes (Millions$$$$ of ACA money but nobody cares the impact of Alberta's #1 predator?)

My opinion is no parvo... it's AC Disease. Nobody ever heard of AC Disease before? AC Disease seems to be a very new disease, a very localized problem.

[rcmc]

Originally Posted by Marty S

I hear talk of parvo and such things... I don't believe it not even for a moment. Reports from different areas of the province by numerous people tell me there's lots of coyotes. We shipped quite a bunch of coyotes to the first sale.

Never assume anything with coyotes. Never jump to conclusions, especially if you haven't been in the game long or been watching very closely long term.

Athabasca, Red Deer, Suffield, Pincher Creek, Hays/Taber... Reports of good numbers. Areas in between guys are claiming parvo outbreaks, but that's totally an assumption. I guess we never have science on our side to monitor diseases or health in coyotes (Millions$$$$ of ACA money but nobody cares the impact of Alberta's #1 predator?)

My opinion is no parvo... it's AC Disease. Nobody ever heard of AC Disease before? AC Disease seems to be a very new disease, a very localized problem.

Ok Marty, AC disease?

[Marty S]

Oh, I'm sorry, AC virus, not AC disease.

[C Taylor]

Seems that at a 11% charge on all fur NAFA is getting their fair share from trappers. Coyote prices may seem high right now but it's not even close to what it was in the past. Consider a $200.00 coyote when good wages was around $6.00/hr.
I do agree with Marty that there no decrease in the amount of coyotes. I'm more concerned that there will be a increase of hides taken into auction causing a glut in market.
You can't compare numbers of a dec sale to a feb sale because most trappers have just got started when hit with a last receiving date on the dec/jan sale

[Marty S]

Canada Goose is rubbing it's hands together, rapidly!

They are sitting there thinking, "What on earth does it take to motivate the trappers to produce more coyotes"