Trapper & Predator Caller fur market expert Serge Lariviére
This is an excerpt from Trapper & Predator Caller’s January 2015 Fur Market Report.
By Serge Lariviére
No large international sales have occurred for this new selling season yet, and honestly, although most folks in the industry hope for some good news, I would say there are undoubtedly more pessimists than optimists in the trade right now.
As a general rule, any trapper that was active this year should be smart enough not to rely on his fur check to pay all of his bills, feed his family and go on vacation. This year has the looks of a recovery year at best, meaning we have just about hit the bottom of the barrel. Now the big question is whether the market will recover immediately or stay dormant for a little while.
After a record year in 2013 and a major nosedive in 2014, we’re about to find out what 2015 holds. By January, a lot of the trapping activity is over, but the selling season is just about to start. A few major sales of Russian fur and ranch mink are scheduled for December, and that might help provide some clues as to what to expect, but it is only at the end of January that we will know how the wild fur will be received on this year’s market.
Until then, there’s not much we can do except hope for some cold weather in China and some peace between Russia and Ukraine. But do not hold your breath for record-breaking prices this year. It will not happen. We should just hope our fur gets sold, so people do not lose the habit of wearing fur.
Serge Lariviére, a Trapper & Predator Caller field editor, is a wildlife biologist in Quebec, Canada. You can e-mail him at trappeurserge@hotmail.com.
This is a preview of the January 2015 Fur Market Report. The full column, including a species by species breakdown, is available in the January 2015 issue of Trapper & Predator Caller.
You can pick up a copy of the digital issue on www.ShopDeerHunting.com.
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