Too Many Minks Push Farms to Brink

In Denmark, the world’s top breeder of minks for fashion, pelts are selling at below break-even prices this season. More than just prices are depressed.

Overproduction, warm weather and a long campaign by animal rights activists have pushed many of Denmark’s 5,000 mink farms to the brink of bankruptcy.

“The stock market crash started it,” said Scott Novak, a representative for a New York dealer in exclusive garments who was in Copenhagen for an international auction. “That seemed to end that beautiful run we had for a few years.”

No Bargains Yet

It is too early to look for bargains in buying a mink coat off the rack, however. Sewing the furs into garments is skilled work, and labor costs along with retailers’ markups are high, but prices might drop later on.

Danish breeders produce 35% of all mink furs sold in the West. Last year, 12.4 million mink pelts were sold, up from 9.1 million in 1986. At the same time, falling prices reduced total income from $394 million to $282 million.

It’s hard to determine the damage done by the animal activists, who at times have sprayed paint on the fur coats of women in the street.

Impact of Protests

“Certainly they hurt us,” said Lester Taffer, a veteran of the trade. “They murdered us in Germany and other places.”

The protests began in the 1960s to save animals in the wild from trappers, but the scope later widened to breeding animals for their fur.

By skimming 0.6% of the turnover at auctions, the London-based International Fur Trade Federation finances a countercampaign to promote the fur industry in brochures and films.

A global fraternity of fur buyers assembled in February near Copenhagen to bid for raw materials that will become the luxuriant apparel in shops in the fall. The Danish auction house offers the largest collection of mink pelts in the world.

Fetching $15 Per Pelt

Minks were fetching between $15 and $34 per pelt. Two seasons ago, amid surging garment sales, the same types of pelts brought up to 45% more.

Mink production has set records.

“This year we’ll be grading more than 15 million pelts, four times that of the next largest fur center,” Peter Krag, president of Danish Fur Sales, said in an interview.

Pelts are graded according to sex, size, color, clarity and quality, creating hundreds of categories.

The fur business has grown in the last 15 years from small handicraft shops to a mass-production industry. The Far East supplies about 40% of the finished product.

Danish fur farming began in the 1920s with wild minks imported from North America and fed on the abundance of fish caught in Danish waters.

World Leader

After World War II, mink production rose steadily, and Denmark became the world leader. Production has tripled since 1980. Now the glut of mink pelts is threatening many breeders.

Two warm winters in a row have added to furriers’ woes. Everyone in the trade is praying for an extended late-winter cold snap to stimulate demand for fur clothing.

Recovery from the slump in fur sales demands at least two radically improved seasons. Even a 10% reduction would not raise prices unless demand soars.

“The important thing is that sales companies are meeting the market,” said William Frick, who represents a major Hong Kong company. He continued:

“Hong Kong and other large consumers of raw pelts have thus far been purchasing conservatively, protecting themselves against a further drop in prices. Eventually, when the market gains confidence and orders are placed, we’ll see a turnover of garments we’ve never seen before. Low prices today will benefit tomorrow’s consumer.”