05 January 2010 - Plenty of snow on the fur markets

The worldwide winter has continued at full strength into 2010. In China, fur retail sales keep up levels from December supported by the coldest winter in years, while the US holds onto last year's level despite a generally weak retail market.

Also in 2010 snow continues to fall heavily all over the world. Particularly the northern China experiences snow in such quantities that it has created huge traffic problems. Thus, according to the Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende, 655 flight departures from Beijing were cancelled yesterday, while 520 flights were delayed.

Apparently, it is the first time since 1951 that so much snow has fallen in the capital of China, but throughout northern China massive snowfalls are experienced at the moment.

- It is probably the coldest season in decades, says Head of Kopenhagen Fur’s Beijing office, Chen Weixian, who also can tell that temperatures in many parts of northern China at the moment are reaching minus 30 degrees Celsius. Records, however, are set in Northwest China at the border of Mongolia, where temperatures have hit ice-cold minus 50 degrees.

Sales-wise the fur retail industry continues the success rates from late 2009. Weixian says that growth rates in the Harbin Province in Northern China are 30-40 percent above last year's level. Generally, he considers it safe to say that levels in China are 20-30 percent higher than those of last year, which fits well with the reports from December.

According to the weather forecasts the cold winter seems to continue. A forecast from the Danish Meteorological Office says that Beijing will experience temperatures of minus 10 degrees Celsius in the following days. This picture will be repeated throughout the northern hemisphere, where traditional 'fur cities' such as Moscow and Chicago are expected to experience temperatures down to minus 15 degrees and heavy snowfall the rest of the week.

Managing Director of Kopenhagen Fur, Torben Nielsen, has just returned from New York where temperatures are just below freezing point but exacerbated by strong winds.

- There is a lot of fur in the streets, in fashion and in the windows, Nielsen says.

The US retail sales have been strongly marked by the financial crisis, but according to sources in the US retail business fur sales are on a par with last year, which is a reasonable position in comparison with the rest of retailing on the North American market.