FUR HARVESTER UPDATE
No surprise; the 26th annual Ontario Fur Managers Federation Rendezvous at Sioux Lookout was cancelled this summer past. And as mentioned in an earlier column only local buyers could physically attend the live fur auction at North Bay. The Fur Harvesters Auction Inc. Chief Executive Officer Mark Downey wrote that Kopenhagen Fur of Denmark had an auction involving international brokers from “almost any country” to attend without quarantine. “This is the world’s largest fur auction house dealing mainly in ranch mink.” (Downey) They had over 40 buyers so the 30 Canadian buyers that attended the North Bay auction “was quite incredible.” Some brokers had phones in their ears taking instructions from foreign customers.
As mentioned in my previous column an online auction followed from September 4 to 11. Following are some of the results.
The following furs were “mainly unsold”: mink, fisher, raccoon, red fox, grey fox and opossum.
Following are some of the more common furs:
Beaver – larger sizes mainly unsold, 25% sold, average price was $16.58; top price $81.92.
Castoreum – ranged from $102.40 per pound to $128.00.
Muskrat – 56% sold, average $3.19; top price $7.68.
Otter – 25% sold, selective buying, average price $19.90; top price $53.76.
Lynx – 33% sold, average $54.25; top price $224.00.
White fox – 94% sold, average $57.79; top price $59.60.
Silver fox – 100% sold, average $34.68; top price $46.08.
Eastern coyote – mainly unsold.
Timber wolf – 73% sold, average $140.29; top price $928.00.
Wolverine – 64% sold, average $300.15; top price $601.60.
Black bear – 71% sold, average $108.60; top price $640.00.
Skunk – 61% sold, average $5.04; top price $43.52.
Badger – 32% sold, average $18.70; top price $51.20.
Squirrel – 93% sold – average .40; top price $1.92.
Ermine – 19% sold, average $2.43; top price $12.80.
