The Ruspushnina changed the dates of their next auction and moved it forward, to April, (22-23) 24 (the old dates were March, 2-3).
https://www.furs.su/tpost/jmumu5bmu1-important-information-new-dates-for-theOne of the key reasons, which they don't elaborate in the press release above, is because the majority of buyers are from China (or are represented by Chinese brokers).
The Chinese take their New Year celebrations (February, 12 - March, 3) very seriously and are generally either unavailable for business or very slow and inefficient to deal with throughout the celebration month, it's common knowledge among those who do business with China.
Good timing is also said to be one of the reasons of the success of the past auction, with enough time before the New Year festivities to finalize all financial/bureaucratic transactions (the shutdown in China usually begins a couple of weeks before the celebrations). Moving the auction almost 2 months forward is a way to make sure the Chinese will have sobered up, plus it's a way to give the suppliers enough time to ship their furs because the sable season generally ends on February, 28 in most regions. Unlike the Sojuzpushnina, the Ruspushnina started reaching out directly to trappers this year, with representatives traveling to regions and holding demos on how to obtain the necessary documents and certificates; they also published a PDF with detailed instructions on their website.
