Norwegian fur farmers hold sales as prices drop

Fur prices tumbled by a quarter at an auction held in Copenhagen this week, leading Norwegian mink farmers to hold onto this year's pelts in the hope of a rebound.

Published: 19 December 2013 09:40 CET

Norwegian fur farmers hold sales as prices drop

Stacks of Norwegian mink at the Copenhagen Fur Centre in 2009 - Keld Navntoft / Scanpix

Only one in five of the 1.6 million skins put up for auction at the Copenhagen Fur Centre in Glostrup were sold, after prices fell from 600 kroner ($97) a pelt to just 450 kroner.

"Obviously it is dramatic when prices are reduced by a quarter," Steinar Nordang, an animal breeder in Ørsta told NRK. "Many skins were withdrawn from the auction because the prices were too low. We'll see if this is temporary or if the market has turned."

The fur industry has come under pressure this year, with the outgoing Labour-led administration tasking an ethical committee to look at whether the country should ban fur farming following revelations of poor treatment of animals.

The last time prices were so low was in the depths of the global financial crisis in 2009.

The Copenhagen Fur Center controls 50 percent of the world's fur market, selling around 15 million skins annually to between 400 and 500 buyers.

Member comments

Become a Member to leave a comment.

Bonuses on the new “CopenPay” scheme include a kayak or boat tour, a vegetarian meal, a museum ticket, or an e-bicycle ride — free of charge.

Why does the city want to give away these freebies?

“It is a core task for us to make travelling sustainable. And we will only succeed if we bridge the large gap between the visitors’ desire to act sustainably and their actual behaviour”, tourism board CEO Mikkel Aaro-Hansen said.

The public’s reaction has been “overwhelmingly positive”, although some disappointed visitors “would have liked the scheme to be in place during their stay,” Copenhagen tourism office communications director Rikke Holm Petersen told news agency AFP.

Although the tourist board says it wants the scheme to change behaviour to a more eco-friendly approach, it admits the initiative alone cannot dent the environmental impact of tourism.

More than 100,000 passengers flew into Copenhagen in June, resulting in a much higher carbon footprint than bus or train travel, according to airport data.

“The environmental burden of transportation to and from Copenhagen is much more significant than that of local transportation,” said tourism website VisitCopenhagen.

“We have chosen to limit our advertising efforts to Copenhagen Airport, the central station, and within the city itself, rather than conducting marketing campaigns abroad,” Petersen said.

The tourism office will consider extending the scheme beyond the city — perhaps even abroad — if it proves successful.

“We hope to reintroduce CopenPay as a year-round, green payment experience within the economy and broaden the concept to other parts of Denmark and the rest of the world,” according to the VisitCopenhagen site.