Thought about this too^^^.....from the NAFA days.

Hope that's it.

It was a really strong cat market again.Mink has finally seen an upward movement.Beaver will depend on demand but they are continuing to film Yellowstone,some other western series and movies.I would expect the hatter market to hold its own for a while.

What the heck is wrong with red fox still!!??

4%on the hatters and 1% on the good stuff, I would call that flat at best.

Looks like the felters appear to have their inventory at a desired level, so they’re not selling the good stuff at a cheaper price.
Now the castor….

There was lots of beaver moved from dealers to felters that never saw the FHA auction which probably hurt the late market.Bobcat prices/lynx cat prices were set in the country sales.There is a shortage of this fur in the marketplace.For now the production is a long ways off from the past.One of the surprises was the number of white fox sold.Possibly some were passed due to lack of buyer interest ?

Why do ya'll think the Central bcats only sold 21%? Past few sales the clearance was higher on the Centrals.

Seems if they wanted spotted bellies, they'd got those too.

The central bobcats were selling to the chinese market because of the cheaper price.FHA holds the line on bobcats. Typically the chinese buyer is about as cheap as it comes.They will work the FHA to drive the price down.They are very manipulative.

The bcat market must not be as strong as indicated or the buyers wouldn't have tapped out with the cheaper cats...they'd left there with those too.

Surely, FHA didn't set/hold the price minimums too high on these lower grades of spotted bellies when all the better cats sold well at 90% to 100%.

Just my opinion as I didn’t have any skin in that game...but it does indicate an obvious buyer stopping point exists even when goods are available.

Read CLOSELY what I wrote.There are two different markets for bobcats.The better ones go to the Greek/Italian market for jackets.The Chinese buy the cheaper ones for trim.

Yeah...I read that the 1st time. So, I guess the Chinese struck out with cheap bcats at FHA this time. Their garment market must not be very firm or they'd left Canada with more than 21% of those cheaper cats.

Or, they called one of the country buyers to get what they needed.....like GFW.

Swamp Wolf,

You pretty much nailed the current trend in many species. Many bulk buyers from all over the world are transitioning away from the auction process, and all it's additional commissions, fees, etc. and placing orders DIRECTLY to large scale buyers, who can acquire the same products with FAR LESS overhead expenses, thus in MANY cases keeping costs down for the overseas buyer, while also returning a better price to the trapper, all due to the country buyers/ collectors acquiring the furs without the additional overhead that FHA charges in commissions and fees. FHA is still a good option for many sellers, in some regions, if they don't have shipping fees that would hurt the overhead, etc. to ship that fur to a different marketing option. I'm glad some trappers are still supporting FHA, since I want to see them stay in the game. I currently don't market any fur through FHA though, since they aren't even kind of competitive with other options, for any of my species.

I think you have been doing just fine marketing with GFW, versus what your actual net profit would have been, versus shipping to FHA, even BEFORE figuring the shipping costs to get that fur to an FHA receiving agent. I suspect no one is pulling the wool over your eyes, and you are already well aware of this.
FHA sometimes sounds like a better alternative, UNTIL you do the math on tumbling fees, sellers commission, CITES fees, shipping cost to get your fur to an FHA receiving agent, etc. and all of a sudden, your net return PLUMMETS!!! On the buyers end, the buyers commission, packaging fees, travel costs, lodging costs, etc. drive up their overhead WELL above actual gavel price. That big chunk of $$$$ between trappers net returns, and buyers ACTUAL price paid per pelt, not just posted gavel price, is the window of space that good country buyers can jump into that niche, if they can obtain the same quality of fur, in bulk, for a smaller percentage of the cut than FHA takes. It is working well for some country buyers.

GFW is tied in with Chinese buyers and they would save money buying from him.You would have to ask him what percentage he sells to the Chinese.Also take in consideration the Chinese economy is on a downward slope.So there is less demand for these goods.

Like you.....I sure hope that FHA holds it together (unlike NAFA). The more competition for wild fur...the better.

This southern fur isn't nearly as marketable as northern pelts. I'm just glad there in ONE buyer that is interested enough to come this far south to get it.....GFW.

I've considered shipping bcats to FHA, but I think I'd be better off allowing GFW to move my few cats. After all, they have made it convenient to market our fur down here and paid prices for these beaver that they didn't have to pay this far south the past 2 seasons.

Swampy, you were killin it with GFW judging by 5he receipts you showed a while ago. With all those fees, not sure why anyone in the states would ship across the line. Only thing I hate about GFW is everything’s a +&*/=$#- secret!

Anyone know what country bought all mink

I think you guys are smart in recognizing that the long term survival of FHA is in everyone's best interest. Even the southern guys that don't ship there. I watched the prices being paid for larger beaver ( I think he took some liberties with smaller beaver this year) by Groeny both last year and this year. There was a significant rise. No way he does this without the FHA sales coming up. Unless you market yourself, the day when there is only one significant buyer, will be a dark one for all of us.

Will do.

There are only 2 main buyers for felt. When one has enough inventory for the year and lowers the price, the 2nd buyer won't want to pay up, consequently the price drops. There appears to be a solid demand for felt, just not at the moment. "Sell early and often" was good advice.